In 2024, more than half of the world’s population, an estimated four billion people in more than 50 countries, are expected to head to the polls, according to an estimate by The Economist. It is the first time in history that so many people will have the opportunity to put a mark on a ballot in a single year. Those elections include some of the world’s biggest and most populated countries: India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia, Mexico, the United States, as well as the European Union.
Many of the elections will be crucial tests of democracy in their countries and regions. This has led some observers to describe 2024 as a global make-or-break year for democracy, columnist Doug Saunders wrote in a Globe and Mail column published late last year.
Every year, U.S.-based non-profit organization Freedom House assigns a Global Freedom Score to every country and a select group of territories in its annual Freedom in the World report. The scores measure the degree of civil liberties and political rights in every nation, categorizing them as Free, Partly Free, or Not Free. Here are some major elections to watch in 2024, which also outline this year’s Freedom House rankings. This piece will be updated as elections occur.
Table of contents • Map • Elections so far • Still to come • Other dates
Overview: Which countries are voting, and how free are they?
Key elections happening in 2024
The countries holding elections this year range from “free”
to “not free” in global rankings of civil liberties by the
group Freedom House
Britain:
By Jan. 2025
Russia: March 15-17
U.S.:
Nov. 5
EU: June 6-9
Bangladesh: Jan. 7
Pakistan: Feb. 8
Taiwan:
Jan. 13
India: April
Mexico:
June 2
South Sudan:
December
Indonesia: Feb. 14
South Africa:
May 29
Global freedom scores
71-100 Free
34-70 Partly free
0-33 Not free
Taiwan
94
Britain
91
U.S.
83
S. Africa
79
India
66
Mexico
60
Indonesia
57
Bangladesh
40
Pakistan
35
Russia
13
S. Sudan
1
john sopinski/the globe and mail, Source: openstreetmap;
freedomhouse.org
Key elections happening in 2024
The countries holding elections this year range from “free”
to “not free” in global rankings of civil liberties by the
group Freedom House
Britain:
By Jan. 2025
Russia: March 15-17
U.S.:
Nov. 5
EU: June 6-9
Bangladesh: Jan. 7
Pakistan: Feb. 8
Taiwan:
Jan. 13
India: April
Mexico:
June 2
South Sudan:
December
Indonesia: Feb. 14
South Africa:
May 29
Global freedom scores
71-100 Free
34-70 Partly free
0-33 Not free
Taiwan
94
Britain
91
U.S.
83
S. Africa
79
India
66
Mexico
60
Indonesia
57
Bangladesh
40
Pakistan
35
Russia
13
S. Sudan
1
john sopinski/the globe and mail, Source: openstreetmap;
freedomhouse.org
Key elections happening in 2024
Global freedom scores
The countries holding elections this year range from “free” to “not free”
in global rankings of civil liberties by the group Freedom House
71-100 Free
34-70 Partly free
0-33 Not free
john sopinski/the globe and mail, Source: openstreetmap; freedomhouse.org
Bangladesh
Election date: Jan. 7
Freedom World status: Partly Free
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina secured a fourth straight term on Jan. 7 in a controversial election fraught with low voter turnout, violence and a boycott from the main opposition party. Ms. Hasina, 76, is the longest-serving prime minister in the country’s history.
In her most recent 15 years in power, Ms. Hasina has been credited with turning around Bangladesh’s economy and the key garment industry. But critics accuse her of authoritarianism, human-rights violations, crackdowns on free speech and suppression of dissent.
The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party refused to accept the election outcome, saying Bangladeshi voters have rejected the government’s one-sided election. The party boycotted the vote after Ms. Hasina refused to cede power to a caretaker government to run the poll.
On the eve of the election, polling booths were set ablaze and four people were killed in a train fire that the government described as an arson attack. At least 18 arson attacks had preceded the Jan. 7 vote.
Supporters of the governing Awami League celebrate in Dhaka on Jan. 10 after their party secured victory in an election with low turnout and no participation from the main opposition party.Mahmud Hossain Opu/AP
Taiwan
Election date: Jan. 13
Freedom World status: Free
Taiwan elected Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to be the island’s next president on Jan. 13, giving the DPP a historic third consecutive victory. Mr. Lai faced a fierce challenge from both the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and the upstart Taiwan People’s Party, outperforming polls to secure around 40 per cent of the vote despite warnings from China not to vote for him.
During his victory speech, Mr. Lai said Taiwan “stands on the side of democracy.” He also promised to safeguard Taiwan “from continuing threats and intimidation” while pursuing exchanges and co-operation with China.
Beijing has regarded Taiwan as its sovereign territory and has threatened military action in order to achieve “reunification.” China has ramped up diplomatic, trade and military pressure against Taiwan, including firing missiles into its waters and staging large-scale war games around the island at periods of high tension.
On election night in Taipei, supporters of Lai Ching-te and his Democratic Progressive Party cheer after learning he would be Taiwan’s next president.Chiang Ying-ying/AP
Pakistan
Election date: Feb. 8
Freedom World status: Partly Free
Pakistan’s general elections were held on Feb. 8 against a backdrop of intense military presence, pre-poll rigging and the continuing influence of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), which is backed by the country’s powerful military establishment, was expected to win the vote and reinstate former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Instead, independent candidates affiliated with Mr. Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party secured the most seats in parliament.
Mr. Khan came into office in 2018 as the military’s preferred candidate and an anti-corruption reformer. During his four-year term, he became increasingly critical of the military and of Pakistan’s ties to the United States, favouring much closer relations with Russia and China. In 2022, his party was ousted from office in a parliamentary non-confidence vote.
He then faced a series of charges that saw him banned from politics for five years. In May, 2023, after he was arrested on additional charges, his supporters rioted, attacking military bases across the country. This led to further charges. When parliament dissolved that August, the military decided to delay national elections and install a caretaker government.
The 2024 election has been so directly controlled that some informed observers are describing this as a new, more overtly military-led era in Pakistani politics. For example, the military shut down the country’s entire cellphone and mobile-data network on election day.
The vote took place at a moment of crisis in Pakistan, as stubborn 30-per-cent inflation and steep currency devaluation have coincided with violent conflicts on its borders with Afghanistan, Iran and India, as well as terrorist upsurges in the country’s west and north – meaning that both the economy and large swaths of national policy are dominated by the military.
Pakistani women cast ballots in Peshawar on Feb. 8, the long-awaited contest between a caretaker prime minister backed by the military and supporters of a former prime minister banned from politics.ABDUL MAJEED/AFP via Getty Images
Indonesia
Election date: Feb. 14
Freedom World status: Partly Free
Tens of millions of Indonesians voted on Feb. 14 in the world’s third-largest democracy, spanning thousands of islands and three time zones, to choose a successor to President Joko Widodo and some 20,000 other office holders.
Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto has been confirmed as Indonesia’s next president. According to General Elections Commission Chair Hasyim Asy’ari, Mr. Prabowo and his vice presidential running mate, Gibran Rakabuming Raka (the son of popular president Joko Widodo), won about 59 percent of the vote.
Mr. Prabowo, a disgraced special forces commander once banned from entering the United States because of alleged human-rights violations during the Suharto dictatorship, has pursued the presidency for decades, through means both fair and foul. In a rousing victory speech to supporters, Mr. Prabowo promised to create a government consisting of “the best Indonesians.”
Rival campaigns have warned of widespread fraud, without providing evidence, and vowed to contest the result.
A vendor in Jakarta shows one of his portraits of Indonesia's new leaders on April 24, after the electoral commission formally declared Prabowo Subianto the president-elect. Earlier, Indonesia's high court rejected appeals by two losing candidates, sparking public protest.Achmad Ibrahim/The Associated Press
Russia
Election date: March 15 to March 17
Freedom World status: Not Free
Vladimir Putin secured an unprecedented fifth term as president of Russia on March 17 in what many are calling a “sham” and “stage-managed” presidential election. The Central Election Commission announced that Mr. Putin, who has been in power as president or prime minister since 1999, had won another six-year term with almost 88 per cent of the vote – a sharp rise from the 77.5-per-cent support he claimed in 2018.
The Kremlin also claimed a record voter turnout at 74 per cent for an election that generated almost no public debate or excitement. There were widespread reports of ballot-stuffing, as well as of people being forced to vote in the Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine.
If he serves the entire six-year term, Mr. Putin will surpass Joseph Stalin’s 29-year reign and become Russia’s longest-serving leader since Catherine the Great.
More remarkable than the official figures were the crowds of Russians who turned out at polling stations across the country – and Russian embassies around the world – to show their opposition to Mr. Putin and their respect for Alexey Navalny, who died on Feb. 16 in an Arctic prison camp. Russia’s beleaguered democrats and world leaders have accused the Kremlin of murdering the country’s most popular opposition figure.
Participants in the action were responding to a call from Ms. Navalnaya, who asked that Russians carry through with the Noon Against Putin protest – arriving en masse and voting for anyone but the incumbent or spoiling ballots – an action that her husband designed from behind bars shortly before his death. In the eyes of many, Ms. Navalnaya is now the leader of those who want to see a different Russia than the authoritarian, militaristic version that Mr. Putin has built over his quarter-century in power.
President Vladimir Putin speaks at his victory concert in Moscow's Red Square on March 18, which was also the anniversary of the Russian annexation of Crimea.Alexander Zemlianichenko/The Associated Press
India
Election date: April 19 to June 4
Freedom World status: Partly Free
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared victory on June 4 for his alliance in India’s general election, marking his third consecutive term.
“Today’s victory is the victory of the world’s largest democracy,” Mr. Modi told the crowd at his party’s headquarters, saying Indian voters had “shown immense faith” both in his party and his National Democratic Alliance coalition.
Official results from India’s Election Commission showed the NDA won 286 seats, more than the 272 seats needed to secure a majority but far fewer than had been expected.
Mr. Modi’s win was only the second time an Indian leader has retained power for a third term after Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first prime minister. But also, for the first time since his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party swept to power in 2014, it did not secure a majority on its own, winning 240 seats – far fewer than the record 303 it won in the 2019 election.
That means Mr. Modi will need the support of other parties in his coalition – a stunning blow for the 73-year-old, who had hoped for a landslide victory.
More than 640 million votes were cast in the marathon election held over a span of six weeks – from April 19 to June 1 – in the world’s largest democratic exercise.
The elections come at a time when India is facing multiple challenges, including rising unemployment, attacks by Hindu nationalists against the country’s minorities, particularly Muslims, and a shrinking space for dissent and free media.
Narendra Modi supporters celebrate in Varanasi on June 4, the day results were announced in elections India had held in stages from April 19 to June 1.NIHARIKA KULKARNI/AFP via Getty Images
South Africa
Election date: May 29
Freedom World status: Free
South Africa held its pivotal national elections on May 29 after a day of unexpectedly long queues and heavy voter turnout in many regions. South African officials are counting millions of ballots in an election that could determine the fate of President Cyril Ramaphosa and his long-ruling African National Congress (ANC).
In the most competitive election race since the end of apartheid in 1994, the ballots featured a record 70 political parties, including 31 newly registered parties, along with 11 independent candidates. Its unpredictable outcome has also sparked a surge of voter interest, seemingly reversing the long-standing decline in turnout, if the early indications were accurate.
Final results from the election, declared official on June 2, show that the ANC received 40 per cent in the national vote, down from 57 per cent in the last election. This leaves it dependent on other parties as it seeks to extend its 30-year grip on power since the famed all-race vote of 1994 that ended apartheid and brought it to power under Nelson Mandela.
The results will throw South Africa into weeks of uncertainty as the ANC will now need to look for a coalition partner or partners to remain in the government.
The ANC’s decisions in the coming weeks will determine its political and ideological future. It could seek support from the liberal Democratic Alliance (DA), a pro-business party that won 22 per cent of the vote, which would please the markets and ensure stability. Or it could opt instead for deals with Mr. Zuma’s party or the fourth-biggest party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), both of which are pushing for radical policies on land expropriation and nationalization of banks and mining companies.
The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, received around 21 per cent of the vote. The new MK Party of former president Jacob Zuma, who has turned against the ANC he once led, came third with just over 14 per cent of the vote in the first election it has contested. The party – which named itself after the ANC’s former paramilitary wing, uMkhonto we Sizwe (“Spear of the Nation”) – wants to abolish the constitution and the current parliamentary system, transferring power to traditional tribal kings and queens.
The African National Congress has governed South Africa since the first post-apartheid election in 1994, but this year, it faced stiffer competition than ever from an array of new parties.Alaister Russell/Reuters
Mexico
Election date: June 2
Freedom World status: Partly Free
Claudia Sheinbaum has won a landslide victory to become Mexico’s first female president, inheriting the project of her mentor and outgoing leader Andrés Manuel López Obrador whose popularity among the poor helped drive her triumph.
Sheinbaum, a climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, won the presidency with between 58.3 per cent and 60.7 per cent of the vote, according to a rapid sample count by Mexico’s electoral authority. That is set to be the highest vote percentage in Mexico’s democratic history.
The ruling coalition was also on track for a possible two-thirds super majority in both houses of Congress, which would allow the coalition to pass constitutional reforms without opposition support, according to the range of results given by the electoral authority.
Opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez conceded defeat after preliminary results showed her taking between 26.6 per cent and 28.6 per cent of the vote.
“For the first time in the 200 years of the republic I will become the first woman president of Mexico,” Sheinbaum told supporters to loud cheers of “president, president”.
The country headed to the polls amid deep political divisions and security struggles as drug cartels meddle in regional races and kill candidates with impunity – even as the current president and his protégé campaign on the promise of Mexico becoming a safer country than it has been over the past five years.
At least 32 candidates and potential candidates have been killed in the 2024 election cycle, according to the Violence and Peace Seminar at El Colegio de México. Integralia, a consultancy, recorded at least 749 cases of political violence over the nine months leading up to May 28 – nearly double the 382 cases recorded in the 2017-18 election cycle.
Under the Mexican constitution, the president is limited to a single six-year term. No one who holds the office is permitted to run for or hold the office again.
Mexico City’s Zócalo square lit up with fireworks on June 3 as results showed Claudia Sheinbaum would be the nation’s first female president.CARL DE SOUZA/AFP via Getty Images
European Union
Election date: June 6 to June 9
Freedom World status: Free (with the exception of Hungary, Partly Free)
Far-right parties, especially the ones in Germany, France and Italy, surged in the European Union elections with major gains in parliamentary seats.
Some ballots in the vote for the European Parliament were still being counted, but the outcome showed the 27-nation bloc’s parliament membership has clearly shifted to the right.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni more than doubled her party’s seats in the assembly. The Alternative for Germany extreme right party rallied enough seats to sweep past the slumping Social Democrats of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, despite being hounded by a scandal involving candidates. In France, National Rally party of Marine Le Pen handed a loss to French President Emmanuel Macron’s pro-European centrists – to such an extent that Mr. Macron immediately dissolved the national parliament and called for new elections to start later this month.
Every five years, citizens of European Union countries elect their representatives in parliament – known as members of the European Parliament (MEPs). This year’s elections were held between June 6 and June 9 and took place across all 27 EU member countries.
MEPs shape and decide on new laws that influence all aspects of life across the EU, including the economy, climate change and security. MEPs also elect the President of the European Commission, a position held by Germany’s Ursula von der Leyen.
Election days are divided across the EU countries over the four-day period. For example, the Netherlands held elections on June 6 while France held elections on June 9.
As polling stations closed across Europe on June 9, the initial results showed strong gains for right-wing parties that want to shift the direction of the world's biggest trading bloc.Virginia Mayo/The Associated Press
Iran
Election date: June 28
Freedom World status: Not Free
Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian won Iran’s runoff presidential election on July 6. The surprise victory of Mr. Pezeshkian, a relative moderate, in Iran’s presidential election has the potential to change the shape of Iran’s dangerous confrontation with Israel and its main backer, the United States, writes Mark MacKinnon.
Mr. Pezeshkian triumphed over hardliner Mr. Jalili with 53.7 per cent of the vote in a second-round runoff.
A 69-year-old cardiac surgeon, Mr. Pezeshkian was an almost-unknown political figure until he entered the snap election that followed the May 19 death of his arch-conservative predecessor, Ebrahim Raisi. In speeches, he said he favours negotiations with the West aimed at lifting economic sanctions and ending Iran’s international isolation. His campaign was supported by the heavyweights of Iran’s reformist movement, including former president Mohammad Khatami and ex-foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
In a victory speech delivered Saturday in Tehran, Mr. Pezeshkian said he would “seek lasting peace and tranquillity and co-operation in the region, as well as dialogue and constructive interaction with the world.”
Mr. Pezeshkian promised no radical changes to Iran’s Shiite theocracy in his campaign and long has held Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the final arbiter of all matters of state in the country. The president-elect, who takes office in early August, will have more control over the tone of Iran’s foreign policy – through choosing a foreign minister and appointing ambassadors – than its content, said Abas Aslani, a senior research fellow at the Centre for Middle East Strategic Studies in Tehran.
Iranians headed to the polls on June 28. Turnout – which hit a record low of just under 40 per cent in the first round of voting on June 28, when four candidates were on the ballot – rose to 50 per cent once the race narrowed to the two front runners.
An Iranian woman casts her ballot at a polling station in Tehran during Iran's presidential election on June 28, 2024.ATTA KENARE/Getty Images
France
Election date: Two rounds of voting – June 30 and July 7
Freedom World status: Free
A coalition of left-wing parties in France was the unexpected winner in the final round of voting in the country’s parliamentary elections on July 7, finishing with the most seats but falling short of an overall majority.
The alliance, known as the New Popular Front, consists of Socialists, Greens, Communists and France Insoumise, or Unbowed, a hard-left party led for years by Jean-Luc Mélenchon. It won 182 seats in the National Assembly, ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s ruling centrist group called Ensemble, which took 168 seats, and the far-right National Rally, at 143.
The hung parliament means there will be weeks of political instability as Mr. Macron tries to appoint a prime minister who will have enough support to form a government.
The New Popular Front was cobbled together in the past couple of weeks to stop Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, or RN, from winning the most seats. The RN had topped all other parties in the first round of voting on June 30 and many pundits and pollsters expected it to win the most seats after Sunday’s final balloting, and possibly eke out a majority.
The RN handed a loss to French President Emmanuel Macron during the European Union’s parliamentary elections. The anti-immigration, nationalist party was estimated to get around 31 per cent to 32 per cent of the votes, a historic result more than double the share of Macron’s Renaissance party, which was projected to reach around 15 per cent. In response to the results, French President Emmanuel Macron dissolved parliament and called a snap election.
People celebrate as they gather in front of "Le triomphe de la Republique" statue at Republique Square in Paris.OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT/Getty Images
Britain
Election date: July 4
Freedom World status: Free
The Labour Party won a landslide victory in the British general election, ending 14 years of Conservative rule and sending Keir Starmer to Downing Street as the country’s new Prime Minister.
With results in from all but two ridings, Labour has won 412 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons, more than double the 202 seats the party took the last election in 2019. It’s one of the largest Labour victories ever and Mr. Starmer is only the fourth Labour leader in the last 80 years to win an election.
“You have given us a clear mandate and we will use it to deliver change, to restore service and respect to politics, end the era of noisy performance, tread more lightly on your lives and unite our country,” Mr. Starmer said in a speech outside Downing Street on Friday, hours after meeting King Charles III to formally take over as prime minister.
“So with respect and humility, I invite you all to join this government of service in the mission of national renewal.”
The Conservatives suffered a catastrophic defeat, losing more than 240 seats and falling to 121. That’s the worst showing in the party’s history. Rishi Sunak, the outgoing prime minister, took responsibility for the loss and announced that he will step down as Tory leader. “The British people have delivered a sobering verdict, there is much to learn,” he said.
Mr. Sunak, who became Prime Minister in October, 2022, called the election for July 4 in a surprise move. Under current laws – the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 – Mr. Sunak had to call an election by January, 2025 and said for months that he planned to hold a vote in the second half of the year. But most observers, and many Conservative caucus members, expected that to mean sometime in the fall, rather than July.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer chairs the first meeting of his cabinet in 10 Downing Street on July 6, 2024 in London, England.WPA Pool/Getty Images
Venezuela
Election date: July 28
Freedom World status: Not Free
President Nicolás Maduro and opposition rival Edmundo Gonzalez both claimed victory in Venezuela’s presidential election, igniting a political standoff and protests around the country.
Venezuela’s electoral authority, which is controlled by loyalists of President Nicolás Maduro, declared the incumbent the winner of the presidential election with 51 per cent of the vote – even as the opposition disputed the results. The opposition said tallies they collected from campaign representatives at the voting centres had shown opposition candidate Edmundo González trouncing Mr. Maduro. Mr. González had been leading in all public opinion polls.
Many international leaders have also cast doubts about Venezuela’s disputed vote. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Canada had “serious concerns” about the results, the White House accused Maduro’s representatives of “repression and electoral manipulation,” and nine Latin American governments called for an emergency meeting of the Organization of American States over their “profound concerns.”
Protests have since spread around Venezuela. Many Venezuelans have staged “cacerolazos,” a traditional Latin American protest where people bang pots and pans in anger. Some blocked roads, lit fires and threw petrol bombs at police as protests proliferated around the nation, including near the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas.
For the past quarter century, one authoritarian party – led first by Hugo Chávez and, since 2013, by Nicolás Maduro – has held tight to power.
Venezuela is a country in crisis. Since 2014, a quarter of the population – nearly eight million people – have fled economic freefall, rampant violence, widespread hunger, collapsed public services and hyperinflation (at its highest, six years ago, inflation hit 130,000 per cent).
Demonstrators gather to protest election results that awarded Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro with a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela on July 30.Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters
Japan
Election date: Oct. 27
Freedom World status: Free
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba‘s ruling party and its junior partner lost their majority in the country’s parliamentary election on Oct. 27. The loss, much bigger than expected, is bad news for a leader who’s only been in power for a month.
It’s largely a reflection of voters’ anger at the repeated financial scandals that have hit the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has ruled Japan nearly without interruption since 1955.
The fractured nature of the opposition also means the LDP remain most likely to form the next government, either with a parliamentary minority or some sort of cobbled together grand coalition.
Mr. Ishiba said that despite the “exceptionally harsh judgement from the public,” the LDP and its coalition partner Komeito will seek to stay in power.
The LDP and Komeito took 215 seats in the lower house of parliament, down from 279 seats. Two cabinet ministers and Komeito’s leader, Keiichi Ishii, lost their seats. The biggest winner of the night, the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), had 148 seats, up from 98 previously, but also still well short of the 233 majority.
The constitution gives parties 30 days to hash out a grouping that can govern, but Mr. Ishiba’s party will try to rush this, convening a special parliamentary session to select the prime minister on November 11, according to Kyodo News.
Mr. Ishiba was himself only selected a month ago, in a tight fought battle. He had been counting on a honeymoon bump in popularity to carry him through the election, but Sheila Smith, a senior fellow for Asia-Pacific studies at the U.S.-based Council on Foreign Relations, said public frustration with the ruling party “has been obvious for some time.”
The LDP has been tainted by twin funding scandals, which burst into view after the dramatic assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2022. Mr. Abe’s killer, Tetsuya Yamagami, was motivated by the former longtime LDP leader’s ties to the Unification Church, also known as the Moonies, and in the wake of his act, longtime rumours about the church’s closeness to the LDP were confirmed by the Japanese media, which had been accused of sitting on the story for decades.
In the wake of Mr. Abe’s assassination, numerous LDP parliamentarians and government officials had to acknowledge having received money or support from the Unification Church, which was stripped of its tax-protected status last year.
Japanese Prime Minister and leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Shigeru Ishiba reacts during a press conference a day after Japan's lower house election, at the party's headquarters on October 28, 2024 in Tokyo, Japan.Pool/Getty Images
United States
Election date: Nov. 5
Freedom World status: Free
One of the most crucial elections happening this year is the United States’ presidential race – and a lot has happened in the months leading up to the Nov. 5 vote.
The Republican Party has formally nominated Donald Trump as its presidential nominee for the third time. The nomination, a formality because Mr. Trump already secured the party’s nod with his crushing victory in primaries earlier this year, came two days after he survived an assassination attempt during a rally in Pennsylvania.
The former U.S. president has named Ohio senator and best-selling author J.D. Vance his vice-presidential running mate. Mr. Vance shot to fame for his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy, about growing up poor in Ohio and Kentucky. The book was frequently cited in explanations of Mr. Trump’s popularity among white, working-class voters.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden abandoned his re-election campaign and withdrew from the presidential race on July 21 after weeks of many calling for his exit. Mr. Biden said he would step aside “in the best interest of my party and the country,” and endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris to take the party’s nomination in his stead. He said he would continue serving as President for the remainder of his term, which ends in January.
My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best… pic.twitter.com/x8DnvuImJV
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 21, 2024
Kamala Harris formally secured the Democratic presidential nomination on Aug. 6, becoming the first woman of colour to lead a major party ticket, and selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate. The party and its donors united quickly behind Ms. Harris, an unprecedented process that, in a country with long election cycles, left her with less time than other candidates to win over the public.
Over the summer, reporter Ian Brown and photojournalist Barbara Davidson toured the swing states by bus and car, respectively, to take the pulse of divided U.S. public opinion.
Other things that have happened in this campaign race so far:
- In a historic court ruling on May 30, Mr. Trump became the first former president in U.S. history to be criminally tried and convicted. He was found guilty on all 34 counts of doctoring business records to cover up a hush-money scheme before the 2016 election, mere months before he aims to recapture the White House. A New York jury convicted Mr. Trump of falsifying the records in order to hide a US$130,000 payoff to porn star Stormy Daniels.
- On July 1, the U.S. Supreme Court granted Donald Trump immunity from prosecution for his official acts while president, significantly delaying his impending trial on charges related to his attempt to overturn the result of the 2020 election and possibly ending it altogether. In a 6-3 decision on partisan lines, the court’s conservative majority ruled that U.S. presidents have absolute immunity for core constitutional acts, at least presumptive immunity for all other official acts and no immunity for unofficial acts.
- Donald Trump was the target of a second assassination attempt on Sept. 15 when a man with an assault-style rifle was able to get to within 500 metres of him by hiding in the shrubbery of one of the former president’s Florida golf courses as he played a round on a Sunday afternoon.
Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at a campaign event in Pittsfield, Mass. on July 27.Stephanie Scarbrough/The Associated Press
South Sudan
Election date: December, 2024
Freedom World status: Not Free
South Sudan – the world’s youngest country, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after years of civil war – plans to hold its long-delayed first elections in December. The balloting would represent a key milestone but could be rife with danger and vulnerable to failure under current conditions.
Nicholas Haysom, who heads the UN mission in the country, told the Security Council in December, 2023 that voter registration details, a security plan and a way to resolve disputes are among the missing elements needed to ensure free elections that are “deemed credible and acceptable to South Sudanese citizens.”
An Iranian voter leaves a polling station in Tehran on March 1 during parliamentary elections.Majid Saeedi/Getty Images
Other key election dates to note
- El Salvador: Feb. 4
- Senegal: Feb. 25
- Ukraine: March 31
- Panama: May 5
- Dominican Republic: May 19
- Rwanda: July 15
- Mozambique: Oct. 9
- Mauritius: Nov. 30
- Ghana: Dec. 7
- Venezuela: December
With reports from Doug Saunders, Adrian Morrow, James Griffiths, Mark MacKinnon, Geoffrey York, David Agren, Paul Waldie, Nathan VanderKlippe, Danielle Groen, The Associated Press and Reuters