As I write the results in Zimbabwe are still not announced even though everyone knows that the opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai has won with a landslide.

And once again it's not simply the act of holding an election that shows whether a country might be a democracy, or even whether it's fair (thought that is a necessary condition).

It's also whether a government that lose will hand over power without a further struggle.

President Mugabe said in the closing days of the election in Zimbabwe that Mr Tsvangirai would "never be allowed" to take over, which was clear enough.

We will see whether he still has enough support from the security forces (and whether South Africa is prepared to go on allowing the disaster that has unfolded on its northern flank) to allow him to carry out a presidential coup d'etat, announce completely false results, declare a state of emergency, and throw Mr Tsvangirai and his followers into prison.

But all this raises the question - if you are not going to accept the result of an election, why hold it in the first place?

Democracy must have something going for it if all these tyrants feel it is so important even to go through the motions and pretend they have been properly elected.

Meanwhile Pakistan has for the moment seen a genuine transfer of power, partly because President Musharraf (who tried to rig the election and failed) is so much in hock to America and Europe that he could not resist their demands to respect the results.

And in Kenya the (literally) warring parties have been brought together in an uneasy compromise, not least by the heroic efforts of Kofi Annan.

No such requirements in Iran where, taking a leaf out of Mr Putin's book, they banned most reformist candidates from standing.

But if I am so keen on democracy why do I sit in the unelected the House of Lords?

Well, someone has to be there to vote for Lords reform - and talk of it surfaced again this week.

According to rumours there will be elections to the Lords.

But those of us already there will have our life sentence commuted to a further 16 years!

Isn't that a kind of election rigging?