Unfortunately, the deeply flawed US model of democracy has become the standard wherever democratization occurs.
The hallmark of the US system is the direct election of the chief executive, who then wields immense power for a four-year term.
In this model of democracy, elections typically degenerate into a popularity contest. It is no wonder that entertainment personalities have an edge.
Furthermore, the system favors populists over responsibility-oriented candidates.
It is a flawed system because it generally produces worse results than an indirect election would.
An indirect system would mean that people elect their representatives, and these representatives in turn elect higher-level representatives who then choose the chief executive.
Electorates, on average, are not very knowledgeable about the issues at stake, and frankly, the general public is not highly sophisticated. Typically, a large number of uninformed voters elect candidates who can best pander to them.
This is especially true in the developing world compared to the developed world, as electorates in developing nations are often composed of large numbers of uneducated, and sometimes illiterate, citizens. In direct elections, they vote along the lines they best understand, which are often ethnic and religious. Alternatively, they vote for candidates who can best exploit their envy and hatred. It is much easier to unite a large number of people against a perceived common enemy than behind a constructive agenda.
The result is ethnic and religious fragmentation, and policies that are not in the genuine interest of the people.
An indirect, representative system can avoid many of the pitfalls of the direct system. When villages or neighborhoods elect representatives from their midst, these are likely to be well-educated individuals with a track record of consensus-building. If these local representatives then elect representatives from among themselves, one again gets a group of individuals with an even stronger track record of consensus-building. And they could be the ones to ultimately elect a country’s president.