MY brief for this column has always been to provide a “window on the world”. As befitting that, I thought it perhaps only right and proper in the cold light of a UK post-election dawn, to give pause for thought to those other souls caught up in election dramas elsewhere.

What follows then is for the most part a taking stock of the events that have befallen Bougainvilleans and Algerians these past few days.

Bougain… what, I hear you ask? Well, suffice to say this at least is a tale to warm the heart of any Scot hankering after independence.

For I’m talking about Wednesday’s historic vote in the South Pacific archipelago of Bougainville where citizens overwhelmingly voted to become independent of Papua New Guinea (PNG). How many of you Scottish Indy supporters had clocked that one then?

According to Bertie Ahern, the former Irish prime minister and chair of the referendum commission, the scale of Bougainville’s landslide vote for independence has sent “shockwaves” through PNG’s government. Oh to hear similar words expressed as a result of Scotland going its own way.

Strange as it might seem, there are lessons, though, for all independence-minded Scots in what has happened in the far-flung distant land of Bougainville these past days.

Not least among these is that no matter how bleak things might look at times politically, change for the better does come around and the aspirations of a people’s desire for a nation state of their own can be fulfilled no matter how daunting the odds stacked against it.

It was, after all, only as recently as 1998 that the civil war between Bougainville’s rebel guerrilla army and PNG forces ended after the death of some 20,000 people. To put that in some kind of context, around only 300,000 people live in the territory, and that war, linked largely to one of the world’s biggest copper deposits, was the worst conflict in the Oceania region since the Second World War.

But Bougainvilleans put all that behind them on Wednesday in a poll that was a key part of a 2001 peace agreement to end the civil war. This week it was the ballot box not the bullet that was used to send a message to the government of PNG as to how Bougainville sees its political future shaping up.

READ MORE: David Pratt: Emmanuel Macron faces a moment of truth with protests

Admittedly the referendum is non-binding and must be ratified by PNG’s parliament. A period of transition would probably also be needed to rebuild institutions and the economy before Bougainville became a separate state.

But election-watchers are virtually unanimous in agreeing that the comprehensive vote for independence would make it difficult for the PNG government to prolong that process, and so the world’s newest nation looks likely to be born.

The National:

Perhaps unsurprisingly there is fear within PNG that Bougainville’s departure might spark a rush of other regions calling for greater autonomy from an already weak central government.

While many remain cautious, especially over delays in the transitional process that might result in frustrations again boiling over, there’s no doubt that the independence vote is a key milestone in a political settlement to reconcile a violent conflict and that Bougainvilleans now feel more in control of the territory’s destiny.

The same, unfortunately, can’t however be said of that other election that coincided with the UK’s yesterday, as Algerians went to the polls to elect a new president. Whereas Bougainvilleans clamoured for the opportunity to express themselves at the ballot box, many Algerians on the other hand saw yesterday’s vote as nothing more than a charade intended to keep the ruling elite in power. It was, in short, a vote they did not want.

IF the UK’s General Election campaign seemed at times toxic, it was nothing compared to that in this North African country where for the past nine months Algerians have taken to the streets demanding the right to choose a president with popular support.

For as yesterday’s vote got under way, pushed forward by a powerful military that control the country, the choice was between five regime loyalists who are all part of an old guard a new generation of Algerian voters would like to see the back of.

READ MORE: David Pratt: Nato might not be perfect, but it’s better than the alternative

The “children of the regime” those opposing these candidates call them, identifying leftovers from the regime of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika who was ousted last year after almost two decades in office.

Across Algeria those candidates standing have been met by empty rallies, defaced posters and barrages of eggs lobbed in their direction. Yesterday on “polling day” it was altogether more serious as tens of thousands took to the streets and police and demonstrators clashed.

Quite simply, whoever wins this deeply flawed political contest will struggle to be accepted by the electorate in Algeria in much the same way Boris Johnson will be shunned by many Scots who regard him as about as politically relevant as a one-legged man in an arse-kicking contest.

It would, of course, be crass to draw parallels between Algeria’s electoral experience yesterday and that in the UK. We have not after all witnessed armoured cars and squads of riot police supported by soldiers on the streets during the campaign.

Where parallels can be drawn in one respect, at least, though is the extent to which the real momentum for political change lies with a younger generation.

In Algeria’s case some 70% of the population is younger than 30. Here in the UK likewise, much has been made of the participation and potential impact of young voters in the outcome of yesterday’s ballot and the future political direction of the UK.

As I write, the polling stations have yet to close. Who knows what results will unfold both here in Scotland and across the wider UK. Should the outcome prove positive for Scotland and the path it’s now on towards self- determination then well and good. Should they prove disappointing, then let’s not despair. Just remember Bougainville.