International Criminal Court Tries to Dissuade Election Violence

The International Criminal Court announcing indictments for Kenyan politicians 

Earlier this week, the International Criminal Court (ICC) launched initial inquiries about six high-ranking political figures regarding human rights abuses surrounding Kenya’s 2007 disputed elections.  This marks the first time the ICC is prosecuting “peace time” bloodshed, as the court attempts to establish a precedent for election related violence.

Election violence in Kenya, 2007

Despite efforts to discourage violent election disputes, after recent voting in the Ivory Coast, incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo refuses to leave office after both election and United Nation officials declared the opposition clear victors.  Gbagbo is already beginning to flex his muscles.  This morning, his security police open fired on civilian crowds, spilling blood in the streets, and leaving the first dead in what is likely to be a long, brutal, power struggle.

The Ivory Coast was once one of Africa’s strongest nations, with an established export industry (producing a third of the world’s cocoa) and a prominent port, refinery, and economic center in Abidjan.  Watching the Ivory Coast’s slow destruction as its economy unravels with increased disorder will devastate the nation.  The election winner, Alassane Ouattara, an economist and former IMF director, promises regional growth if in office.  A swift, clean transfer of power would allow for the recent surge of African investment to spill over to the Ivory Coast.  But Gbagbo’s greed will handicap the country into stagnation.

Laurent Gbagbo voting in an election
whose results he refuses to recognize

The ICC’s and the UN’s threat to organizers of violent election disputes signals that even power hungry leaders must to adhere to rules of law.  The effects of the Kenyan trials should dissuade corrupt elections once the court punishes the first batch of ruthless rulers.  But as is evident by Gbagbo’s stubbornness, it will take time to show the court’s power to prosecute.  These progressive measures to securing fair and free elections should successfully encourage more regional stability.  In reaction to the Kenyan indictments, a former human rights official noted, “This is the first time we have high-ranking people facing the law where they have no control and they can’t bribe their way out of it.”  Although promising, this deterrent hasn’t stopped the violent fallout from the Ivory Coast’s disputed elections.  Continued increases in scrutiny and accountability are the only way to end these corrupt, bloody election battles.

Read more on the Kenyan indictments, the Ivory Coast’s elections, or Gbagbo open firing on civilians.

International Criminal Court Tries to Dissuade Election Violence