Topic: Promoting Peaceful Post-Election Transitions
Country: Sri Lanka
Delegate Name: Leighanna Whiting
School: Traverse City West High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Sri Lanka position papers GLIMUN 2008 committees
Keeping a country stable relies on its government. You will find, countries that are not stable in today's world have oppressive leaders and are struggling internally. The UN plays an important role in helping these countries, and any struggling country, to become stable. Many countries are having a hard time easing into a new political figure. Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Sri Lanka are struggling to keep the peace after elections.
In Sri Lanka, we have been at a civil war for nearly two decades. After this much time, not much has been done to bring peace to Sri Lanka. At the last election, there were many cases of voter intimidation and ballot-stuffing. It is still bitterly torn apart. In Kenya, people are dying in fights and people have fled from their home. People accuse the votes as not being counted fairly. In Zimbabwe, the elections are said to be unfair as well and they have manipulated the electoral process so that they know who has won before the votes reached the polls.
The UN should promote and implement peace to these countries. In countries like Ghana and Sierra Leone, they have been promoting peaceful elections and Sri Lanka thinks the UN should try to help do the same in these countries that struggle. In Ghana, they have asked the media to not be one sided in their reporting. The Director of the Amnesty International Ghana has said that messages from the media can convey peace messages or sound the drums of war. In Sierra Leone, they have started the peace rally “Go Vote! No Violence”. It was joined by popular artists and they have been singing and preaching messages of non-violent elections.
In conclusion, many countries are unstable because of the leader and that comes from the unfair voting. The UN should put a stop to voter intimidation and manipulation and follow those countries who are trying to promote peaceful elections.
