The original Athenian democracy might have been shit in practice, where out of a city of half a million people, only about 10% could vote, but at least they had systems in place to keep a check on who was in power.
Like ostracism, where people got together every year and wrote any name on the ballot, and anyone who got over 50% of votes was exiled for 10 years and became ineligible for office during that period.
Or if politicians in office didn't hold their promises, they could be dragged to court by other politicians.
Voting every 4 years over which rich fuck gets to rule, in a fake popularity contest where candidates are chosen by other rich fucks, and whoever spends the most money wins, is not a democratic election. It's oligarchic at best.
Real democracy means you get to hold accountable whoever is in power. The only political system to ever achieve this was socialism.