"It says much for the level of democracy within those countries that they can have 'highly-unpopular leaders'. If they are so democratic, why are those leaders still in place?"

You don't really understand democracy, do you, Nigel? They were popular enough to get elected. They are still in place because their democratic electoral systems have yet to boot them out. But democracy demands that that potential is always there. Perhaps you're implying that unpopular leaders in democracies should be ousted by military coups. I think we should be told...