2024-01-01 01:03:56
The year 2023 has been key for many countries: in Spain, general elections were held that, after several months of negotiations, led to agreements to maintain a socialist coalition government, and that took place after municipal elections that opened the door for many local governments to the extreme right. It was not the only space where the far-right has had a leading role: the Argentine elections gave victory to the far-right Javier Milei, accused of gender violence and plagiarism, while in the Netherlands the Freedom Party of Geert Wilders won, thanks to his speech. against immigration.
Now, next year is not far behind in importance. More than fifty countries have their appointments with the polls in 2024, in a context in which threats to democracy are the order of the day; So much so that in Germany they already consider far-right groups as the main threat to German democracy. This is the 2024 global electoral calendar:
Elections between January and March 2024
During the first quarter of the year, numerous elections are held, including one of the most relevant, taking into account the current situation. On March 17, the first federal elections will be held in Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, with the current head of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin, 71, as a candidate for re-election for the fifth time since the year 2000 and with an almost certain victory. The elections, in which no openly opposition candidate will participate, will be a kind of referendum on the progress of the Russian military campaign in Ukraine in which the Kremlin has not yet achieved the objectives it set for itself when it invaded the neighboring country.
Putin is currently serving his fourth term as head of Russia, although since the fall of Boris Yeltsin he has always held some position of power in the Eurasian nation, either as prime minister – from 2008 to 2012 – or as president – from 2000 to 2008. and from 2012 to the present. For these elections, Russia’s Central Election Commission refused to register the initiative group of anti-Kremlin journalist Yekaterina Duntsova, 40, who had previously criticized Putin’s policies as well as the war against Ukraine and offered to voters as an alternative.
January 7 – Elections to the Parliament of Bangladesh January 9 – Elections to the National Assembly of Bhutan (second round) January 13 – Presidential and parliamentary elections in Taiwan January 14 – Presidential elections in Comoros January 28 – Presidential elections in Finland February 4 – Presidential and parliamentary elections in El Salvador and presidential elections in MaliFebruary 7 – Presidential elections in AzerbaijanFebruary 8 – Parliament elections in PakistanFebruary 14 – Parliamentary and presidential elections in IndonesiaFebruary 25 – Presidential elections in Senegal and Parliament in BelarusMarch 10 – Elections (early) in PortugalMarch 15-17 – Presidential elections in Russia
The elections in Taiwan come at a time of high tension between the island and mainland China, which claims sovereignty over this territory. The ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate and current vice president, William Lai (Lai Ching-te), is currently leading the polls.
→ China vs. Taiwan: the keys to understanding the conflict
Elections in the second quarter of 2024
Among the electoral events of 2024 are the elections to the European Parliament that will take place between June 6 and 9 in the 27 countries of the EU and that will determine the course of community policy. Coinciding with these, those in Belgium also take place, which take place on June 9. In the so-called “largest democracy in the world”, India, also the most populous country (1,428 million inhabitants) and the third largest economy in the world, elections are also held in the second quarter of the year and the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, says with great possibilities of achieving a third consecutive term, according to polls.
For its part, in the Mexican elections, for the first time in history, two women are presented as main candidates: the official Claudia Sheinbaum, former head of Government of Mexico City, and Xóchitl Gálvez, former senator and leader of the opposition platform Fuerza and Heart for Mexico.
April 10 – Parliamentary elections in South Korea May 5 – Presidential and parliamentary elections in Panama May 12 – Presidential elections in Lithuania May 19 – Presidential and parliamentary elections in the Dominican Republic June 1 – Presidential elections in Iceland June 2 – Congressional elections and presidential elections in MexicoJune 6-9 – European Parliament electionsJune 9 – Parliament elections in Belgium
Elections during the summer of 2024
During the months closest to the summer season (in the northern hemisphere) not many elections are usually held; In fact, in some parts of Spain it is even prohibited to hold elections in July and August, due to the high temperatures that can be reached. Now, it does not mean that there is no process.
Rwanda’s presidential and legislative elections are scheduled for this quarter, in which Paul Kagame hopes to renew his mandate. It is the first time that both elections are held on the same day, in a measure that, according to the National Electoral Commission (CNE), will seek to reduce costs and make it easier for citizens to vote. Kagame presents himself as a representative of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) to try to extend his mandate, which has already lasted 23 years. Paul Kagame was re-elected last April as party leader, with 99.8% of the votes, facing a single candidate: the Rwandan ambassador to Indonesia.
Kagame rose as the country’s strongman after the 1994 genocide, consolidating his dominance six years later with the start of his first presidential term. In 2015 he amended the Constitution to the point that it allows him, in theory, to remain in power until 2034 if the population so decides. Terms in Rwanda last seven years.
The last elections of the year 2024
In Venezuela there are also presidential elections in 2024, although there is still no specific date for a vote in which the united opposition, which in 2018 abstained from participating, decided to attend as a result of a long political negotiation with the Chavista Government aimed at obtaining guarantees of cleanliness and electoral justice. Chavismo and the opposition agreed to hold them in the second half of the year and, following the constitutional calendar, the elections in Venezuela could be in December. The big question is whether former representative María Corina Machado, elected in the primaries but disqualified from holding elected public office, can finally be the opposition candidate as claimed by countries like the United States, which has actively supported the Government-opposition negotiation.
October 9 – Presidential and parliamentary elections in Mozambique October 27 – Parliamentary and presidential elections in Uruguay November 5 – Elections in the United States November 12 – Presidential and parliamentary elections in Palau December 7 – Presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana
The elections that attract the most attention are the presidential elections in the United States, set for November 5 and whose results always have effects on the global geopolitical scenario. Predictably, since the primaries have yet to be held, the candidates will be the same as in 2020: Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump, who represent antagonistic models of the country.
The probable elections but still uncertain
Not all of the 2024 elections are perfectly defined as of January 1. Ukraine is precisely one of the countries where, according to the electoral calendar, a new ruler would be elected in 2024, but it is not yet certain that they will be convened. The mandate of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, expires on March 31, but as long as martial law is in force due to the war with Russia, the polls cannot be called, although the president has hinted at the possibility of legislating to allow it.
There are also other countries whose electoral calendars are not yet defined, including Austria, Slovakia, Romania and the United Kingdom. According to ‘The Economist’ magazine, more than 4.1 billion people, which means 51% of the world’s population, reside in countries where 2024 is an election year.
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