Do you know a good case of an evil incompetent who remained in power across multiple election cycles?
Hmm dunno but if there's no such case, it's a point in favor of democracy.. Dictators aren't subject to election cycles.
Putin has subjected himself to multiple (distorted) electoral processes. he didn't have to. He decided to wear the lipgloss (on a pig) of a chimera of democratic process. He's been President and Prime Minister, and oddly, power has shifted with his alternate roles.