I'm not a spiritual man but I've lived in Asia long enough, and I know the basics. BP Ubuntu's similarities with Buddhism is superficial at best, Ubuntu doesn't talk anything about inner vacuity or reincarnation circles. A large part of Ubuntu and UEF success comes from good economic models, especially infrastructure investments (with certain real-world parallels here) and a spirit to achieve worldly goals, including scientific achievement - trust me, neither Buddhism or Taoism or Confucius talk much about that. With regards to the Elders, it's interesting, I think I'll have to see more before I can really judge. Prima facie, a closed one party circle would seem contradictory to transparent and accountable government, but it's not impossible either.
At the same time, there's much we don't know about the GTVA, especially with the post-Capella changes in the BP universe. I'm not sure we can just assume it's western democracy in space. Sure, they have a general assembly, but how many political parties? What is the balance of power? What is electoral system across the different GTVA worlds? Does the system encourage citizen involvement in government, or does the business sector or the military dominate?