For some reason, dictators like to hold fake elections. Well, we know why: They sense, somehow, that their dictatorship is wrong, and they like to have a fake democratic imprimatur.

In my “Oslo Journal” today, I write about a journalist from Gambia — a remarkable woman named Fatou Jaw Manneh. She showed us pictures from her home country, which is bossed by a dictator named Jammeh. Three years ago, he staged one of his fake elections. There was a billboard that showed his picture and said, “A vote for him in 2011 is a sacred duty for all Gambians or you die.”

That’s putting it bluntly, huh?

In my journal tomorrow, I will discuss Yoani Sánchez, the Cuban democracy activist. The Castros, too, hold fake elections, periodically. Two years ago, Yoani went to the polls and wrote one word across her ballot: “Democracia.” Then she took a picture of it: here.

Okay, here’s my little point — a sappy little Hallmark-card point: It’s nice to live in a free and democratic country, isn’t it? Happy Election Day.