Thursday, June 22, 2006

Elections in DR Congo

The people of Congo are preparing for their upcoming elections. There has been lot of debate about whether democracy can provide the most stable government in developing countries with troubled pasts. But after years of colonial rule, kleptocracy and incompetent leaders, I think it's fair to say that the Congolese have given the alternatives a chance. No one is pretending that the move toward democracy is going to be easy, the polling alone will be a challenge:

...[the ballots] will be distributed to Congo's 10 provinces by U.N. planes, then taken to polling stations by car or bicycle, by boat down the Congo River or on foot. Some of the 53,000 polling stations are so remote that election workers will have to walk for 10 days down jungle paths to deliver the ballots.
But it is a step forward. And for many Congolese, it is the first time in their lives that they have had reason to be hopeful for the future of their nation.

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