Human Rights and Democracy - Official Documents

legislation and practices, including through the UN, the EU, the Commonwealth and
other multilateral organisations.
Democracy
Elections and election observation missions
Although elections are vital to democracy, they do not guarantee it. As was clear in
2010, elections can be a means of consolidating personal and party power and can
act as window dressing, conferring a stamp of legitimacy on an illegitimate regime.
This was certainly the case in Burma where the regime conducted elections in a
deeply repressive environment. Some 2,200 political prisoners, including opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, remained under detention with the playing field firmly
skewed in the military-backed party’s favour.
Despite the risks, in 2010 we worked to support elections around the world and to
help them meet international standards. In December, Minister of State Jeremy
Browne, with Department for International Development (DFID) Minister Stephen
O’Brien, launched new guidance to Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and
DFID staff which provided practical advice on how to support elections overseas.
This builds on the work our embassies and high commissions already carry out.
In the run up to the elections in Ethiopia in May, our Embassy in Addis Ababa was
instrumental in facilitating agreement to an electoral code of conduct by the ruling
party and many opposition parties. The code was passed into Ethiopian law and
commits the parties to adhere to electoral good practice. The negotiations between
the political parties that led to the formation of the code helped build trust and
confidence, and reduced the risk of post-election violence. However, as the EU
election observation mission stated, while election day was peaceful, there were
serious shortcomings in terms of transparency of the process and the lack of a level
playing field for all the contesting parties.
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