I suspect the quality of candidates prepared to get involved in local politics is unsatisfactory. In rural communities a paternal squire (he or she) may shoulder the burden.
The OSCE has fifty-seven member States with more than a billion people in North America, Europe and Asia. In 1990, OSCE participating States pledged to hold free and fair elections (and to invite foreign observers to observe its elections).
There was an article in The Spectator a while back about where Peers keep their robes. A God Daughter’s father keeps his on the back of the bathroom door hoping the steam will kill the moths.