The Prime Minister of the country was for example under extreme pressure to prove that the elections could be run in a perfectly democratic manner. However, when democracy was not in his favor, violent measures were taken and a reelection demanded to manipulate the results. The reaction of all involved parties to all the actions taken by the Prime Minister and his ruling party were negative and heavily oppositional. This was not the case in the United States. While some campaign tactics may have resorted to extreme measures in terms of insult or discreditization, this did not result in murder or public violence. Indeed, when the results were made known, parties were able to communicate peacefully. The Republicans, who lost the campaign, accepted the results gracefully once it became clear that recounting the ballots would not change the results (BBC News). Indeed, according to BBC News, President Bush is perfectly willing to work with the winning opposition in order to find solutions to problematic political issues such as Iraq. This, as seen above, is not the case in Ethiopia at all, although it is also true that U.S. campaigners who resorted to potentially harmful tactics would be likely to deny that they did so at all rather than apologize. The political tendency to shy away from one's own mistakes and shortcomings appear to be universal in this sense.

In construction a definition of elections, it is important to first define the democratic paradigm from which it is said to emerge. The Prime Minister of Ethiopia was very confident...

The attempt however ended the lives of 42 people for a crime no greater than opposing the election results. The Minister's attempt to suppress any such opposition proves that this is no democracy. An election should not be a life-threatening procedure.
The elections in the United States occurred in a much more orderly fashion. This may be the result of a democratic paradigm that has finally learned to allow a variety of ideologies to exist within a single country. The secret to election success then appears to be letting these ideologies compliment rather than destroy each other. President Bush for example expressed his willingness to work with the opposition in finding solutions to the problems faced by his country, whereas Ethiopia's Zenawi appears to have no tolerance for opposing viewpoints whatsoever. For him the main important issue is retaining power.

In conclusion, an truly democratic election can occur only in a truly democratic country, where opposing parties are willing to accept the results, whatever they may be. The main framework of importance should be what is good for the country, rather than what is good for the political party in question.

Sources

BBC News. "U.S. Democrats secure sweeping win." 9 Nov. 2006. URL:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6134344.stm

Washington University in St. Louis. "Campaign Tactics & Strategy." 2006. URL: http://news-info.wustl.edu/cat/page/normal/131.html