This year will see an unprecedented number of people head to the polls to choose their leaders. About 50% of the world’s population is entitled to vote in national or local elections. Elections to the European Parliament will also take place, making them the second-largest democratic elections in the world after India’s. The EP elections are the only directly elected transnational assembly in the world.
By Alex Sumlinsky
The largest election, will take place in India between April and May 2024. Over 900 million people are registered to vote in India, out of a population of 1.4 billion, making it a huge undertaking to make sure everybody can cast their ballot. The current Prime Minister Narendra Modi hopes to be re-elected for a third five-year term. Since Modi took office, India has developed into the world’s 5th economy (having previously been ranked at number 10) and could be the third by 2027. Seen as a counterweight to China, many Western leaders will be closely watching the developments in this Asian nation.
Apart from being a historic year in terms of the number of elections taking place, it may also be a year of firsts. Mexico is set to hold its presidential election on June 2nd. For the first time in the country’s history, the two leading presidential candidates are women- Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, former mayor of Mexico City, and ally of incumbent President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, will face former senator Xóchitl Gálvez.
The year 2024 however will not be a celebration of democracy in all the nations where elections are to be held. Some of the elections will take place in autocracies or military dictatorships where the democratic process is neither fair or free and the outcome can be predicted. Based on data from the Freedom House, a global democracy watchdog that rates nations all over the world based on factors such as individual rights, rule of law, freedom of the press, and fairness of the electoral process, many of this year’s elections will happen in countries that rank at the bottom of the scale. Nevertheless, the outcome of these elections will have ripple effects in their respective region and the world order.
Russia for example, with a “freedom in the world” score of 16/100 will hold a presidential election in March and we already know who the winner will be… According to Freedom House, Putin’s successful campaigns have been in part the result of “preferential media treatment, numerous abuses of incumbency, and procedural irregularities during the vote count”. Since Putin has begun the biggest military conflict in Europe since World War II and unfortunately support for Ukraine has been fraying, now is the time for Western leaders to unite even more on the issue for support for the war-ravaged country. A Russian win in Ukraine would mean the world order that many of us have come to live in and know as Pax Americana, would be undermined. The world would also become a far more unstable and insecure place. It would also send a message to other actors on the world stage that the West is incapable of determined and unwavering defense. China is watching.
The largest election, will take place in India between April and May 2024. Over 900 million people are registered to vote in India, out of a population of 1.4 billion, making it a huge undertaking to make sure everybody can cast their ballot. The current Prime Minister Narendra Modi hopes to be re-elected for a third five-year term. Since Modi took office, India has developed into the world’s 5th economy (having previously been ranked at number 10) and could be the third by 2027. Seen as a counterweight to China, many Western leaders will be closely watching the developments in this Asian nation.
Apart from being a historic year in terms of the number of elections taking place, it may also be a year of firsts. Mexico is set to hold its presidential election on June 2nd. For the first time in the country’s history, the two leading presidential candidates are women- Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, former mayor of Mexico City, and ally of incumbent President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, will face former senator Xóchitl Gálvez.
The year 2024 however will not be a celebration of democracy in all the nations where elections are to be held. Some of the elections will take place in autocracies or military dictatorships where the democratic process is neither fair or free and the outcome can be predicted. Based on data from the Freedom House, a global democracy watchdog that rates nations all over the world based on factors such as individual rights, rule of law, freedom of the press, and fairness of the electoral process, many of this year’s elections will happen in countries that rank at the bottom of the scale. Nevertheless, the outcome of these elections will have ripple effects in their respective region and the world order.
Russia for example, with a “freedom in the world” score of 16/100 will hold a presidential election in March and we already know who the winner will be… According to Freedom House, Putin’s successful campaigns have been in part the result of “preferential media treatment, numerous abuses of incumbency, and procedural irregularities during the vote count”. Since Putin has begun the biggest military conflict in Europe since World War II and unfortunately support for Ukraine has been fraying, now is the time for Western leaders to unite even more on the issue for support for the war-ravaged country. A Russian win in Ukraine would mean the world order that many of us have come to live in and know as Pax Americana, would be undermined. The world would also become a far more unstable and insecure place. It would also send a message to other actors on the world stage that the West is incapable of determined and unwavering defense. China is watching.
Source: TVP World
