In Hungary, for example, which is an EU country and democracy (i.e. there are elections), investigative journalists have been targeted with Pegasus by the government.
"Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black."
But for Hungary - I've been there multiple times in the last few years, know a few people, and I have no trouble believing he won democratic elections.
It was another country, we still don’t know which one it was but some think it was Morocco.