Year in photos: elections around the world

Elections in 2010 highlighted the progress made by women in some countries and the instability of democracies in others. Brazil's elections saw competition between women running for the top job. Here Brazilian senator from the Amazon's Acre atate, Marina Silva, speaks in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Aug. 30, 2009. (Mauricio Lima/AFP/Getty Images)

Another female contender for the presidential post was Marina Silva, who pauses for a picture with a supporter as she campaigns in downtown Guarulhos, Sept. 27. (Mauricio Lima/AFP/Getty Images)

And in the end Dilma Rousseff (right) campaigning here with outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, won the election. After a runoff election at the end of October, Rousseff became Brazil's first female president. A majority of Brazil's 136 million voters chose Rousseff, the former right-hand woman of Lula da Silva. (Antonio Scorza/AFP/Getty Images)

The U.K. election resulted in a coalition between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats. Here the new Prime Minister David Cameron (left) and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg (right) enter No. 10 Downing Street for their first day of coalition government on May 12 in London. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Some women ran for parliament in Afghanistan, like the woman in the billboard above. Elections in Afghanistan were widely criticized for vote-rigging and corruption. No one was surprised that the incumbent Hamid Karzai won. Voter turnout was light in many parts of the country with at least 12 people killed, some polling stations were attacked and some never opened. (Paula Bronstein /Getty Images)

The elections in Burma, officially known as Myanmar, were widely dimissed as a sham. Here a security guard sits in front of a voter list near a voting station in Rangoon, officially Yangon, Nov. 7. (CKN/Getty Images)

A week after the elections, the military rulers released Burma's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi who had been under house arrest on and off for more than 15 years. Here, Suu Kyi poses for a portrait at the National League for Democracy headquarters in Rangoon on Dec. 8. (Getty Images)

A child in Haiti walks among the election ballots still lying on the ground at a voting station in Port-au-Prince, Nov. 29. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The Belarus elections were disputed by opposition candidates who charged that incumbent Alexander Lukashenko rigged the polls. Here Belarusian soldiers emerge from polling booths at a voting station in Minsk on Dec. 19. Lukashenko, known as Europe's Mugabe, claimed a fourth term, extending his grip on power for another five years. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images)

Ivory Coast went to the polls in November to determine if incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo would continue his 10-year rule. Here a supporter of challenger Henri Konan Bedie performs at the last campaign rally at the main stadium in Abidjan. (Luc Gnago/Reuters)

Ivory Coast supporters of challenger Alassane Ouattara, who won the official count in the Nov. 28 runoff election, protest in Abidjan on Dec. 16. At least four demonstrators were shot dead on Dec. 16 as troops loyal to leader Laurent Gbagbo mobilized to thwart an attempt to storm state television headquarters. Soldiers deployed by Gbagbo's regime set up a cordon of armored cars around the broadcaster's Abidjan offices, as France and the United Nations called for restraint and warned of the dangers of a return to violence. (Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images)

Supporters of Ivory Coast challenger Alassane Ouattara burn tires in the streets of Abidjan to protest that President Laurent Gbabgo swore into office on Dec. 4. Ouattara officially won the vote, but Gbagbo claims he won. Ouattara was sworn in to office in a separate, competing ceremony the same day. By the end of December, Ivory Coast remained divided and a return to civil threatened. (Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images)