Top line
More than 50 countries around the world, with a total population of around 4.2 billion, will hold national and regional elections in 2024, in what is set to be the biggest election year in history featuring featured seven of the world’s ten most populous countries.
FILE PHOTO: The United States is among several major democracies set to hold general elections this year. … (+)
Highlights
THE UNITED STATES is preparing for November’s presidential and congressional elections, which could be a repeat of 2020 if President Joe Biden faces his predecessor Donald Trump.
Indiathe world’s largest democracy, will hold general elections sometime before June, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party will seek a third term against a coalition of regional and national opposition parties called the Indian National Alliance for Inclusive Development (INDIA). ).
Bangladesh will hold one of the first major elections of the year on January 7, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina all but assured of a fifth term as the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party opted to boycott the poll.
Taiwan will closely follow elections scheduled for January 13 as the democratic island faces increasing threats from China, which claims it as part of its territory; Lai Ching-te, pro-American, is leading in the polls.
Indonesia And PakistanThe world’s fourth and fifth most populous countries, respectively, will hold general elections in February, with Jakarta looking for a new leader as President Joko Widodo is ineligible for a third term, while Islamabad hopes to exit of a constitutional crisis that led to the ouster and imprisonment of former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
South Africaone of Africa’s largest economies and a founding member of the BRICS alliance, will hold elections shortly after May, with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s African National Congress hoping to continue its uninterrupted hold on power since the end of apartheid in 1994.
Mexico will hold general elections in June, where it will almost certainly elect its first woman as party leader. Claudia Sheinbaum, the protégé of outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, will face Xóchitl Gálvez, who leads a coalition of opposition parties.
Surprising fact
The major elections of 2024 will not be limited to nation states alone as the European Union will hold legislative elections in June, amid fears of a resurgence of right-wing parties on the continent. The outcome could have a significant impact on Europe’s continued support for Ukraine in its war against Russia, as several right-wing parties in Western Europe have done. Express opposition to provide continued assistance to the ongoing war effort in kyiv.
Large number
945 million. How much is it registered voters were counted in India in early 2023. Since then, Prime Minister Modi has claimed that more than a billion people will be eligible to vote in 2024, when the world’s most populous nation goes to the polls.
Tangent
Russia and Iran will also hold general elections in 2024, but with authoritarian regimes in power, neither is expected to be free and fair. However, the elections could face potential protests as they are the first to be held amid recent geopolitical unrest involving the two countries. Iran has seen numerous anti-government protests in 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, at the hands of the country’s morality police, while Russia has seen smaller protests and even a potential coup attempt after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Further reading
2024 is the biggest election year in history (The Economist)
