Don't make me nervous, Oni!

... I try to distance myself from my characters, but I really care about Jonathan

...
And I fully agree with Richard - Quillanoi is a democracy in the sense that you can vote out the politicians you don't like, that you can petition to the Council and see what they can do, that you can try to get a referendum started, etc., but the place still needs to be run by someone - usually people disagree (that's why we have all these debates), so I think the government would be completely stuck if there really was rule by the people.
And honestly, I fully disagree with all those arguments that this government is so inefficient and deadlocked etc. - I simply don't see it. The Guards are growing, there are more and more companies, the number of transactions in Quii is increasing constantly, the constitution is gradually starting to really work, there are quite a few laws implemented (ok, I'm not a good law-writer, but still), diplomatic relations have been set up with Brunoi and Siom, ... so where is this inefficiency?
The only reason to see it as inefficient would be that the government is not importing resources, cleaning up the floor, fighting wars, ... but these are not signs of inefficiency, but just a different approach to what a government should be doing, which simply does not fit with the ideology of Russell or Quathak. Quillanoi government is not run like a company, exactly because the idea is that it shouldn't be ...