How is power obtained in a democracy compared to a dictatorship?

Strictly speaking, in a democracy, at predetermined intervals, every individual will cast one vote for the person they want to be the "leader" or the "group of leaders". These candidates are chosen from pool of people who were previously picked through a series of qualifying elections. These election occur after set amounts of time and keep occurring indefinitely. This makes it so that if the people being ruled are not happy with their leaders, they can vote for new leaders in the next election.

In a Dictatorship, power is taken or maintained without the "consent of the ruled" often by force whether it is a military coup, civil war, revolution, or a formerly freely elected leader who refuses to relinquish power.

In other Words, in a democracy ever single person has a vote to choose their leaders every few years. In a dictatorship, power is maintained by violence and the threat of violence. The people being ruled have no say in who has the power.