BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

POST-ARMED CONFLICT FIRST ELECTION: A MEANS OF SHAPING TRANSITION FROM VIOLENCE TO PEACE

Author: Md. Touhidul Islam, Nusrat Jahan Jebin

DOI Link: https://www.doi.org/10.56888/BIISSj2021v42n4a5

ABSTRACT

Election during peacetime or after the armed conflict is a competitive game where participating parties want to go into power and legitimize authority in the governance process. Holding a democratic election in the post-conflict context is further complicated due to existing divides, fragility, and scratches of armed violence. However, arranging an election is one of the crucial yardsticks of contemporary peacebuilding, persuaded by the international community for changing the status of a war-torn country into a liberal democratic one. An election is an exit strategy for the international community and a transition technique from violence to peace; holding the post-conflict first election is a cumbersome one that depends on various actors, parties, factors, and issues. Given this context, this paper considers three cases—Angola, Sierra Leone, and Nepal to explore and examine the key issues and vital factors that help hold the post-conflict first election. This paper argues that preparing a condition that enables parties to decide to go for an election is as crucial as people’s engagement in an election, free from fear, intimidation and biases. Such an approach convinces the parties to bring back in normal politics and allows an all-embracing transition process beyond the stage of violence. However, their extent of acceptance could vary. In this process, the presence of international peacekeepers offers a kind of security guarantee for the parties to consider and re-consider their positions as they want to be in the governance process. Hence, demilitarization of politics is vital before holding an election. However, the roles and mandates of peacekeepers are determined by the contexts where elections occur with varying excitements and the ways parties find alternative means of accommodating their demands in the due political process. A transition from violence has no one set rule. Instead, it depends on the extent to which the context, main parties, and people on the ground are ready to go for it, influenced by various other complexities.