Kieran Lawrence looks at autonomous weapons and the effect they could have on modern warfare
Continuing a series on world leaders, Miles Deverson takes a look at Angela Merkel
Ben Bland examines the fallout from the Iowa caucuses and looks forward to the New Hampshire primaries.
In the first of a series on world leaders, Miles Deverson takes a look at Nicholas Sarkozy
His sentiments were widespread – with the live election coverage and subsequent news broadcasts airing numerous vox pops of people who felt angry and disenfranchised. Indeed, tales of voters being turned away and polling stations running out of ballot papers evoked outrage and indignation across the country.
Of course, the UK isn’t the only nation to have held a general election recently. Polls have not long closed in Ethiopia with incumbent Prime Minister Meles Zanawi and his party the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, or EPRDF, seeking another term in office, having first gained power in 1991.
The previous election, held in 2005 was marred by claims of fraud and the violence that followed. These violent protests led to the deaths of 200 people. In the wake of these events, several opposition leaders were imprisoned and one, Birtukan Mideksa, still remains incarcerated today.
With the ballots cast, opposition leaders are already crying foul – claiming fraud in areas outside of the capital, Addis Ababa. These claims have been dismissed by officials with the government strenuously denying any misconduct.
The EU dispatched 170 observers to monitor this election, a clear indication of the scale of international concern after the events of 2005. It is worth noting that neither they, nor BBC correspondent Will Ross, have reported anything that would support the opposition’s claims.
This notwithstanding, the situation arguably puts recent events in Britain into perspective. The problems which occurred across the country were the result of administrative failings, not governmental corruption. Running out of ballot papers is certainly an embarrassment, especially in a developed Liberal Democracy such as ours, but it was not indicative of electoral fraud. Most importantly, while a small number of voters may have been denied the vote – at no point was anyone's life at risk. Indeed, it is unlikely that these events will result in the presence of EU observers the next time Britain goes to the polls.
If anything, the levels of outrage nationwide for what, in a global context, could only be seen as minor electoral mishaps indicates the relative health of democracy here in the UK. Of course the UK’s system is flawed - unquestioning satisfaction with the status quo and a failure to keep our system and our leaders accountable would be, given our relative freedom to do so, almost criminal. The anger felt by those disenfranchised was, of course, natural. However, as an electorate it may be worth pausing before claiming democracy is dead in Withington or anywhere else. In doing so, we would do well to spare a thought for Birtukan Mideksa in her prison cell or any one of the 200 people in Ethiopia who lost not their vote, but their lives fighting for their democratic rights.
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