Dina Mahmoud (London)
As soon as we bid farewell to 2023, “the year of extraordinary transformations,” given the successive events and rapid changes that occurred in its months, humanity welcomed a year in which it appears to have the upper hand in deciding destinies and paths, and determining choices, in many parts of the globe. During 2024, the world will become closer to a stage on which a record number of parliamentary and presidential elections will take place, some of which will be held in a number of major decision-making capitals, which could lead to a reshaping of the international scene, politically and economically. And security.
Likewise, the year 2024, during which humanity will direct its compass strongly towards space to explore more of its horizons, will begin its days with the formalization of a decisive step taken late last year, on the path to strengthening the bonds of a transcontinental partnership, the parties of which seek nothing but the good of humanity and the well-being and stability of its people. .
Good morning
By the first day of 2024, the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will officially join, along with Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia and Argentina, the BRICS group, which includes a number of the fastest growing economies in the world.
The country’s membership in this pivotal economic bloc, which was born in its current form in 2010 by Russia, China, India, Brazil and South Africa, culminates in a long-term partnership that brought together the two sides. This step also opens the door to the creation of huge economic, trade and investment opportunities that would bring about a transformation in the economic landscape, whether among the countries of the group, or on the global scene as a whole.
Steadfast defender
Under this name, NATO countries will conduct military exercises in February and March of this year, with the participation of more than 40,000 soldiers.
These exercises, which will be hosted by Germany, Poland and the Baltic countries in conjunction with the continuation of the Ukrainian crisis, are expected to be the largest of their kind since the end of the Cold War, which has raised the ire of various circles in Moscow, especially in the midst of reports stating that the maneuvers will include dozens of warships and hundreds of fighters. This is with the participation of Sweden, which aspires to join NATO.
“Super Tuesday”
On March 4, 2024, a federal court in Washington will begin the trial of Donald Trump, the former US president and potential candidate for the next presidential race, on charges of attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 elections.
The charges brought in this case include conspiracy against the American state and conspiracy to obstruct an official procedure, against the backdrop of hundreds of protesters storming the Congress headquarters on January 6, 2021, to boycott the session to certify Biden’s victory in the recent elections.
The trial will begin on the eve of the vast majority of American states holding their primary elections between Republican and Democratic aspirants to run for the presidential ballot scheduled for the end of this year.
The sun is hiding
On April 8, 2024, the countries of North America, the United States, Canada, and Mexico, will witness a total solar eclipse, which will also include parts of the Pacific Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean.
As for October 2, residents of some regions of the South American continent will observe an “annular eclipse,” which is the one in which the apparent diameter of the moon is smaller than the diameter of the sun, blocking most of its light and causing it to appear in the form of a circle called the “ring of fire.”
Chinese probe
In May 2024, China intends to launch the Chang'e-6 lunar probe, with the aim of collecting samples from the dark side of the Moon, which is the part farthest from Earth.
The probe will also carry scientific instruments from countries such as France, Italy, Sweden and the European Space Agency.
In the first half of the new year, the Chinese National Space Authority is scheduled to launch a satellite called “Qiuqiao-2” or “Magpie Bridge-2”, to support communications between the Earth and the dark side of the moon.
“Protecting the future”
Over the course of September 22 and 23, 2024, the United Nations Headquarters in New York will host a high-level international conference, under the name “Future Summit,” which aims to enhance cooperation between the countries of the world, in order to confront the fundamental challenges of our current era, and fill the gaps in the global governance system, as well as Reaffirming existing international commitments, including those related to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
The United Nations hopes that the summit will result in the heads of states and governments participating in it ratifying a document called the “Charter for the Future,” which aims to pave the way for the creation of a multilateral system capable of dealing with current challenges and confronting potential future threats.
“BRIX PLUS”
In October 2024, the city of Kazan, the capital of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, will host the first summit of the BRICS group, after strengthening its ranks with the accession of the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to its membership, along with 4 other countries, including Egypt.
This group began its journey, under the name “BRIC”, when it was founded by Russia, Brazil, India and China in 2009, before becoming “BRICS” the following year with the inclusion of South Africa. Then the name was changed for the third time to “BRICS Plus”, following the accession of the six most recent countries. It officially became a member at the beginning of this year.
Artemis” toward the moon
Fifty-two years after the last manned mission launched by NASA towards the moon, the agency will send the first human team towards it in November 2024, aboard the Orion spacecraft.
The mission is called “Artemis 2,” and will be carried out by four astronauts, including for the first time the first African American, the first woman, and the first foreign astronaut, after these tasks were previously limited to white American astronauts.
The Artemis 2 mission, which lasts 10 days and covers a distance of 2.3 million kilometers, is to fly around the moon and then return without landing on its surface.
It aims to verify that all Orion devices, related to life support and other systems, will work as intended, with astronauts on board in deep space.
Journey to “Venus”
Weeks after the scheduled launch of the American mission to the moon, India is expected to launch a space probe called “Shokrayan” towards the planet Venus, in the first move of its kind since Japan launched another probe towards the same planet, in 2010.
While the mission of the Japanese probe “Akatsuki” was to study the climate of Venus, “Shokrayan” will be concerned with the chemical composition of the atmosphere of “Venus,” which is sometimes described as “Earth’s evil twin,” because they are similar in size and different in many other ways.
The Indian probe will also search for any indications of the presence of “phosphine,” or “phosphan,” a chemical compound that is a colorless, flammable gas that is believed to be present on the planet Venus. Scientists link the existence of this compound to the possibility of the existence of life.
Fighting malaria
Sometime in 2024, doses of the first anti-malaria vaccine will begin to be distributed to residents of 12 African countries, in an attempt to eliminate this disease, which kills nearly half a million people annually from sub-Saharan Africa, including more than 260,000 children. Under the age of five. The number of these doses is expected to reach about 18 million, as part of an experimental program to combat this disease, which many fear is increasing its resistance to pharmaceutical drugs, and is classified as one of the main causes of death on the African continent.
Elections everywhere
Almost a month in 2024 will not be without a voting process here or there, either to determine the image of the majority and the opposition in a legislative council, or to resolve the competition in a presidential race, or to define the features of a parliament, representing a continental bloc the size of the European Union.
The various balloting operations that will be held during the new year gain their importance because two of them will reveal the identity of the occupant of the most prominent and prestigious position in two countries with the weight of the United States and Russia, and among them will be organized in countries with significant influence in their regional surroundings.
Quiet start
The 2024 election express train, which passes through 50 countries according to some estimates, with the participation of about half of the world’s population, begins its journey somewhat calmly, with parliamentary elections taking place in Bangladesh on the seventh day of the year, before that is followed on the 28th day by a competition for the presidency of Finland. It will be repeated on February 4, but this time in Mali and El Salvador.
On the eighth of the same month, Pakistan will be scheduled for legislative elections, in which the “People’s” Party and the “Muslim League – Nawaz Sharif’s wing” are expected to compete, after propaganda campaigns that will last 54 days.
Less than a week later, on February 14, voters in Indonesia will go to the polls to elect a new president of the country and his vice president, in elections in which the current president, Joko Widodo, is not allowed to run.
Indonesian voters will also choose members of the bicameral People's Consultative Assembly, as well as members of local councils in their country, which ranks fourth on the list of the most populous countries in the world.
On February 25, the presidential election train will arrive in Senegal, where voters there will choose, for the 12th time in their history, the fifth president of their country located in West Africa, which was known for its political stability, despite the numerous coups and civil wars in its surroundings.
Voting of debtors
One week after legislative elections scheduled in Portugal on March 10, Russian voters will go to voting centers in turn, to cast their votes in a presidential ballot, which various indicators indicate that current President Vladimir Putin is the most likely to win.
The upcoming Russian presidential elections are the first since the country witnessed a referendum on constitutional reforms, which were approved by a majority in 2020, allowing Putin to continue in power for two more presidential terms until 2036.
But the year of the “electoral marathon” is not devoid of paradoxes as well. Before the curtain falls on the month of March, and specifically on its last day, Ukrainians, whose government has been involved in an escalating crisis with their Russian neighbor since late February 2022, are supposed to head to the voting centers in the elections. Presidential, it seems controversial.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky considered, weeks ago, that “conditions are not appropriate” for holding the electoral process, which was supported by Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who said that the elections “present to the authorities unprecedented challenges.”
However, this vision does not satisfy the Western allies of the Kiev government, who are pushing for the completion of the vote on time.
Women's competition
Sometime during April or May 2024, voting centers will open in India to elect members of the lower chamber of Parliament, known as the Lok Sabha, or the “House of the People.”
After the elections, the party that wins the parliamentary majority or the coalition that wins it will choose the prime minister, amid expectations that the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be able to remain in office for a third term, to continue to hold power in a country with a population of 1.4 billion people. He speaks more than 100 languages.
As for Mexico, it is likely that in the middle of the new year it will witness a confrontation that is the first of its kind in its history, in light of the two female candidates leading the presidential election race, scheduled for June 2, which makes it likely that a woman will reach the presidency in this country.
One of the two contestants represents opposition parties, while the other is running for the ruling party, having previously served as mayor of the federal capital, Mexico City.
Between June 6 and June 9, European Parliament elections will be held, the first since Britain's exit from the Union a few years ago. More than 400 million Europeans are entitled to vote in the elections, making it the second largest voting process in the world, after its counterpart in India.
Voters of the 27 member states of the European Union are scheduled to choose 720 members of its Parliament, for a period lasting between 2024 and 2029.
Attention is focused on the voter turnout rate, after it approached 51% in the last elections in 2019, which at that time constituted the highest rate in a quarter of a century.
Observers also wonder whether the upcoming European elections will give populist parties the opportunity to obtain more seats in the European Parliament or not.
Aside the Atlantic
At a time when Britain is widely expected to witness parliamentary elections during 2024, given that the term of the current House of Commons will end on December 17th, this vote, despite its importance, will not likely steal the spotlight from the fierce race expected for the White House, on the other hand. The other is from the Atlantic Ocean.
On November 5, attention will turn to the United States, to follow its presidential elections, which are expected to become a repeat of the 2020 confrontation between the current Democratic President Joe Biden and his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, despite the legal problems facing the latter.
The upcoming vote is expected to be the most expensive in American history, with estimates that it will see more than $10 billion spent on electoral advertising. In addition to determining the identity of the forty-seventh president of the United States, the November 5 elections will include competition for all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, along with a third of the seats in the Senate, and the position of governor in 13 American states.
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