The people of Limhi had a royal form of government not a democratic one. Still, we see that Limhi was interested in the voice of the people. The effort to break free from the bondage of the Lamanites would require the combined energies of all the people. This effort was an early form of democracy in action.
Elder Antoine R. Ivins
"… democracy does not consist in a set of rules which provide for the election of representatives of the people, whom we name presidents and senators and representatives, but democracy is a condition of the heart; democracy consists in the recognition, on the part of one person, of the rights of another, and the thought that the common good is the determining principle, or should be, in all government; that men who are placed in prominent positions to direct the destinies of people derive that right from the voice of the people. In other words, that the people is sovereign, and the ruler is the servant of the people.
"Our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, taught that when he said: ’He that is greatest among you shall be your servant.’ Verily this is true.
“Democracy is the underlying principle, when it comes to government in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I have stood in this pulpit before and stressed the fact that that democracy is represented in the Priesthood of the Church of God.” (Conference Reports, Apr. 1938, p. 47)