Ballots for Bullies: The Crimes Against Humanity Elections of 2010

For all you aspiring dictators out there, one of the most important things to keep in mind is that free and fair elections are your worst nightmare. Taking a cue from my Change.org colleague Una, who put 2010 elections in Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq, and the Palestinian Authority on her watchlist of polls that "could easily trigger, escalate or help resolve conflicts," I'd like to add two countries worth keeping an eye on, for the impact that elections might have on unresolved or ongoing cases of crimes against humanity: Sri Lanka and Burma.

Coming less than a year after the end of the country's long and brutal civil war, the January 26 presidential elections in Sri Lanka have made international headlines in recent weeks, as the incumbent president (who oversaw the war from on high) faces unexpected competition from a former army general (who oversaw the war from on the ground). The amount of mudslinging and dirty tricks would make Karl Rove blush.

The suffering of ethnic Tamil civilians, who were victims of abuse on the scale of crimes against humanity from both the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil rebel group, has received an ironic amount of attention as the opponents in the tight race vie for every possible vote. But given the involvement of both men in the long, bloody war, many observers caution that this political jockeying is unlikely to translate into real change for Tamils or accountability for the abuses committed against them. Many Tamils are skeptical themselves; still, Sri Lanka's main Tamil political party is backing the former general.

For Burma, what happens when a country with a ranking of "worst of the worst" on global ranking of world freedom holds elections? We should, at the very least, take promises of free and fair elections from the country's leadership with a grain salt, especially when said leadership issues thinly-veiled threats to its citizens about making "correct choices" at the ballot box. Such is the case of Burma -- or Myanmar, as it's also known - whose ultra-repressive military junta is so paranoid that it banned speculation over the cosmic meaning of last week's solar eclipse. But although the elections are not likely to occur until the later in the year, current international attention on the regime's shoddy human rights record -- which, among other things, includes the intentional targeting of civilians as a tactic to combat ethnic insurgents -- might help force at least a smidge of a democratic opening, such as the possibility of allowing Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and other political detainees meet with their parties and participate in the elections. Meanwhile, aid organizations are preparing for a possible flood of additional refugees across the border into neighboring Thailand and China, should the elections be less-than-peaceful.

Photo credit: indi.ca