Elections are underway all around the world. Aurelien Morissard/ Pool via AP; Rajesh Jantilal/AFP via Getty Images; Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Hide caption
Toggle caption Aurelien Morissard/ Pool via AP; Rajesh Jantilal/AFP via Getty Images; Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Elections are taking place all over the world.
Aurélien Molissard/via Associated Press; Rajesh Jantilal/AFP via Getty Images; Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
National elections are underway in more than 60 countries around the world. From Taiwan to India to El Salvador, countries representing more than half the world’s population are voting this year.
We’re halfway through the biggest election year in modern history and we’ve already seen some dramatic changes, just to name a few:
India has re-elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist party to a third term, but in a less than landslide victory than many had expected. After a decade in power, Modi has faced growing criticism.
South Africa’s African National Congress, Nelson Mandela’s party, has lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994.
This week, France’s far-right won the first round of general elections.
In Britain, opinion polls predict that voters are ready to end 14 years of Conservative rule by electing a liberal prime minister on July 4.
This year’s historic election wave comes at a time of growing concern about the backsliding of democracy due to the spread of disinformation and AI.
NPR is keeping a close eye on several elections around the world, and All Things Considered host Ari Shaprio spoke at length about upcoming elections in three countries — Venezuela, Ghana and Georgia — to predict what’s to come for the rest of the year.
The incumbent is losing
One trend we are seeing in elections around the world is that incumbents are not performing very well.
“Generally speaking, people are dissatisfied with government, and they’re much more dissatisfied with government than they were 10, 20, 30 or 40 years ago,” said Steve Levitsky, a professor of political science at Harvard University.
“So, with some exceptions, being an incumbent is becoming increasingly disadvantageous.”
Tarasiuk Bronner is an expert on human rights and law in Latin America, who says the following trends are continuing in the region:
“What we’re seeing is that people want their basic needs addressed by their government, and they don’t care who addresses them, as long as the government addresses them.”
In Venezuela, where elections are due to take place later this month, authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro is losing even his most core support base, Bronner said.
“Venezuela is already a dictatorship. The question is whether these elections are an opportunity to put Venezuela back on the path to democratic transition.”
Voters are motivated by the economy
The economy is a top concern for many voters.
Ghana will hold long-awaited elections on December 7th, which international development researcher Marie-Noelle Nwokolo says could have wide-ranging implications for West Africa.
“We consider these elections extremely important as they will shape Ghana’s political and economic future, including reviving the economy after one of its worst economic crises since the 1980s.”
She says that after coups in neighbouring countries, Ghana has become “the only country on the African continent and in the region that has a stable democracy that people respect”.
The majority of Ghana’s population is under 35, Nwokolo said, meaning they are being “gaslighted.” [by the government] “This is where most of our people will spend most of their lives,” she said, expressing concern that neither the current government nor the opposition will deliver on their economic policy promises.
Similarly, Georgian voters planning to go to the polls in October are most concerned about issues that are “close to their lives,” said Tamara Sartania, an independent election observer in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Sartania said many people are unhappy with the current government, but the opposition parties also do not have much support.
“Over the past few years, [the incumbent government has] “The government has managed to consolidate power at almost every level of governance, and the only independent institutions left are civil society and the media, so if the government eliminates them, there’s no democracy left,” she said.
“That’s why this election is so important, because it’s essentially a referendum on whether Georgia will continue to develop as a democracy or revert to being a Soviet-style dictatorship.”
This episode was produced by Karen Zamora and Jordan Marie Smith and reported by NPR’s international democracy correspondent Frank Langfitt. Edited by Janet Wood and Patrick Jarenwattananon. Executive producer is Sami Yenigan.
