In Afghanistan, elections slated for June are supposed to crown a UN-sponsored drive for stabilization after more than two decades of fighting.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has a long sad history of election violence. And, security will be high when it tries out a new direct, but likely messy, voting system to pick its president.
Incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of the nation's founding leader, was swept to power as a pro-reform movement darling just three years ago. But Muslim extremism, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, has done much to destabilize her government.
RSS