In 2024, people other than Finns will vote in the presidential election. Election campaigns are held in more than 60 countries. In total, about half of all humanity lives in countries where you can exercise your right to vote this year.
January at the end Finns will vote in the presidential election. But Finns' election fever is not the only one in the world.
This year, elections will be held in more than 60 countries, where a total of half of humanity lives, i.e. more than four billion people. The number of people entitled to vote in these countries will of course be smaller.
The first significant elections of 2024 were seen on the island of Taiwan earlier this month. As the year progresses, voters head to the polls both in the world's largest democracy in India and in one of the oldest, the United States.
The election year of all time is considered a test of democracy, because in many countries there is cynicism towards democracy has increased.
HS presents the most important election battles in order of magnitude.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi represents the Hindu nationalist BJP ruling party.
India
Voting age: over 950 million (2023)
Time of elections: April–May
When almost half of humanity will step to the ballot box this year, about one in four voters is Indian. of India of the Election Commission according to 2023, there were slightly more than 950 million eligible voters. In a country with a young population, the number of voters has grown strongly in recent years. The average age of Indians is under 30.
In this year's elec
tions in the world's largest democracy, representatives for the lower house of the federal parliament, i.e. the 543-seat Lok Sabha, will be chosen, among other things.
National elections in India, with a population of 1.4 billion, are a huge logistical effort. Indians gather at the polls gradually from April to May. In 2019, the elections were held in seven stages for more than a month.
Hindu Nationalist Party BJP holds more than half of the seats in the parliament. Based on opinion polls, the party is expected to continue as the largest party in the country. The victory of the BJP in the national elections has been characterized as inevitable, says the British newspaper The Guardian.
The cornerstone of the BJP's position is the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's personal preference. Known as the grandmaster of Teflon politicians, Modi has survived one national crisis after another without his approval ratings suffering.
The reign of Hindu nationalists has weakened relations between Hindus and the Muslim minority. About 200 million Muslims live in India.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Strasbourg, France on January 17.
European Union
Voting age: More than 350 million in 27 member states (2022)
Date of the elections: 6–9 June
World Finns also participate in the second largest election, when more than 350 million adult population of EU countries are attracted to the ballot box. The European Parliament elections will take place from 6 to 9. June in each of the 27 member countries.
15 MEPs from Finland will be elected to the European Parliament for the next session on Sunday, June 9. The number of representative seats allocated to Finland is grown by one to 15 mepps. The new seats were allocated after Parliament decided to increase the total number of seats from 705 to 720.
Two additional places were allocated to France, Spain and the Netherlands. In addition to Finland, Austria, Belgium, Poland, Denmark, Slovakia, Ireland, Slovenia and Latvia get one additional place.
Former President Donald Trump is the overwhelming front-runner to become the Republican presidential candidate who will challenge Democratic President Joe Biden.
United States
Voting age: 258 million (2021)
Election date: November 5
World one of the oldest democracies, the United States is going through a huge election cycle this year, where, among other things, a new president and the representatives of the House of Representatives of the Congress will be elected. About a third of the seats in the Senate are also divided.
The election campaign has already begun with party primaries, which the Republican Party opened in January at the Iowa caucuses. Iowa was overwhelmingly won by the former president Donald Trumpwho is considered the early favorite to be the party's presidential candidate.
With these prospects, the presidential election in November will be held by a Democrat president seeking another term Joe Biden and Trump, i.e. the version of the 2020 election is known. Trump's wagon can be thrown by numerous lawsuits.
Along with the White House, there is a fierce battle for the House of Representatives and the Senate of Congress, the first of which is held by a narrow Republican majority and the latter firmly in the hands of the Democrats.
Indonesia's long-time and popular president Joko Widodo visiting the Philippines on January 10.
Indonesia
Voting age: over 200 million (2024)
Election date: February 14
To the ballot box Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country and the world's largest Muslim country, will also visit this year. The main themes of the election year are the youth of the voting population: the majority of voters are under 40 years old, says The Jakarta Post.
Indonesians have been able to participate in free elections for a relatively short time. The country was ruled by a military dictator for more than 30 years Suhartoafter the end of his reign, free elections were held in the country in 1999.
A popular president who led the country for almost a decade Either Widodo may want to influence politics through his son after his term ends, write Australian professors Tim Lindsey and Simon Butt The Conversation on the site.
Widodo's son Gibran Rakabuming Raka has been chosen as the early favorite for the presidential election Prabowo Subianto as a vice presidential candidate. The elections will be held on February 14.
Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan pictured in Lahore last March.
Pakistan
Voting age: about 130 million (2023)
Election date: February 8
of India neighboring country and traditional blood enemy Pakistan will also go to the polls this year. The largest age group of voters are 26–35 years old, says the Indian newspaper The Tribune.
The main character of the February elections is considered to be a man who is not even a candidate, says the American Time magazine: a former prime minister deposed in 2022 and subsequently imprisoned Imran Khan is still quite popular in his country.
According to the newspaper, the military decision-makers who are influential in Pakistani politics have done everything to prevent Khan and his PTI party from returning to power. Among other things, the PTI party has been banned from using the cricket bat symbol. The decision is crippling for the party in a country where up to 40 percent of voters are illiterate, Time says.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone in a picture published by the state news agency Sputnik on January 9.
Russia
Voting age: 113 million (2021)
Election time: 15–17 March
Election and democracy do not always go hand in hand, as for many autocratic leaders elections are a theatrical ritual that seals the continuation of power. The club of these countries includes Russia with its long-term president Vladimir Putin under.
During the war of aggression started in Ukraine, the facade of democracy has become increasingly thin in Russia. The operation of a genuine opposition and independent media has been made impossible, and the most famous opposition politician Alexei Navalny sits in prison.
Putin, who has been in power for more than two decades, is looking for another term as president in the elections, which will be held on the 15th-17th. March.
Undemocratic election theater is also expected from the parliamentary elections of Russia's ally Belarus on April 25. Leading the democratic opposition in exile Svyatlana Tsihanouskaya stated when visiting Helsinki in Januarythat there will be an autocratic leader Alexander Lukashenko an empowering “ritual”.
The Supreme Leader of theocratic Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, pictured in Tehran on January 16.
Iran
Voting age: 61 million (2020)
Election date: March 1
Authoritarian The theocratic regime of Iran, a Shiite country led by Mahsa Aminin death at the hands of the country's chastity p
olice in autumn 2022.
The possibilities of ordinary people to influence the country's administration in elections are limited in Iran, because the highest decision-making power in the country always belongs to the religious leadership in the end games, which must approve the election candidates.
The supreme leader of the Iranian regime, the Ayatollah Ali Khameini's the most important goal in the elections at the beginning of March is to restore the administration's legitimacy, which has suffered knocks, according to the American Foreign Policy -magazine.
In terms of foreign policy, Iran is being tested by Israel's war in Gaza, which has been feared to expand into a major war between the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah and Israel.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of the Conservative Party sniffs clams on January 15.
Britain
Voting age: 49 million (2021)
Election date: Not decided, presumably at the end of the year
The exact date of Britain's next general election is not yet clear, but it is generally assumed that it will be held at the end of 2024. The deadline for holding the election is January 28, 2025, but the Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is confirmed bythat the elections will be held in 2024.
The position of the Conservative Party in the elections is not enviable. The party is plowing through the mud in the polls, and support readings predict a landslide victory for the Labor Party.
British voters' opinion of the Conservatives' performance has been pushed to the freezing point by, among other things, the country's economic crisis. The leader of the Labor Party has been nominated to succeed Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister Keir Starmer. If the election result is in line with the polls, the conservatives' reign lasting more than a decade will end.
Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, who was stabbed in the neck, was pictured at a press conference after being released from a hospital in Seoul on January 10.
South Korea
Voting age: 44 million (2020)
Election date: April 10
Autocratic Kim Jong-un led North Korea has recently stepped up pressure and bellicose rhetoric on its democratic southern neighbor. At the beginning of the year, the atmosphere was tightened by North Korea artillery shots towards the South Korean islands.
American magazine of The New York Times according to some experienced analysts who follow the country even estimate that North Korea is seriously preparing to attack its neighbor.
Internally, the burning issues of South Korea's general election is the birth rate, which is the lowest in the world: South Korean women give birth to 0.8 children per summer. Korea Herald according to the report, the two largest parties have both promised measures aimed at families with children, with the aim of increasing the birth rate.
Under the election to the leader of the largest opposition party to Lee Jae-myung was targeted in an assassination attempt in which the assailant stabbed him in the neck, news agencies reported. The politician recovered from the stabbing in a hospital in Seoul.
Other sources: International IDEA, the European Commission, British Statistics Office
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