Significant claims have been made that developments in e-government can lead to e-democracy. However, the 'league tables' that are regularly published rating different governments' performance and the laudatory tones in which governments identify their own actions as more democratic in the field of e-government need to be treated with some caution. Assessments of democratisation can be marred by the enthusiasm of technological determinists or governments themselves. This paper reviews aspects of this literature, empirical data gathering and e-democracy trials and advances a possible framework for assessing the democratic merits of technological innovations.