More than one billion people around the world have already voted in 2024—and there are still more elections to go in this history-making year.

Polls for national office have been—or will be—held in more than 60 countries (as well as the European Union), home to nearly half the people on earth.

[Click here for a previous version of this story that outlines 2024 elections by population and includes a “freedom and fairness score” for each country.]

And so far, a tsunami of change is sweeping ballot boxes worldwide.

But the tides are turning in different directions: elections across Europe have seen far-right parties make serious gains; meanwhile, South Korea’s main liberal opposition to the ruling conservative government earned a landslide victory in parliamentary elections, and the British Labour Party decisively defeated the conservative Tories, who had held power in the U.K. for 14 years. Senegal’s presidential vote was hailed by observers as a win for democracy after it elevated a relative outsider and anti-corruption candidate, bringing a surprise end to the decades-long domination of the country’s ruling coalition. And yet, the world is bracing for the potential tumultuous comeback of former U.S. President Donald Trump, as President Joe Biden is set to leave office.

What’s clear is many of the world’s voters don’t want things to stay the same. Even in places where incumbent governments have retained power, they’ve done so with significantly less public support than before. Venezuela’s opposition turned out in force at the polls to try to oust strongman Nicolás Maduro, whose victory remains challenged by questions of legitimacy. In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was forced to form a coalition after his ruling party failed to secure an outright majority in parliament for the first time in a decade. South Africa’s African National Congress also formed a coalition after losing its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid. And in countries where meaningful opposition has been curbed by ruling elites, such as Russia, many have opted to spoil their votes or boycott the polls as a form of protest. In Bangladesh, after long-ruling Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina secured another term in January after an election that observers called neither free nor fair, she was ousted in August amid a wave of student-led protests.

Researchers say this widespread yearning for something different—in the various forms it can take—largely stems from a sense of hopelessness, whether about dim economic prospects, climate change, disinformation, or even the state of democracy.

“Hopelessness is a very powerful feeling in electoral psychology, because it’s the feeling that people have when they think that things are so bad, that it can’t really get worse anyway,” Michael Bruter, the director of the Electoral Psychology Observatory at the London School of Economics and Political Science, tells TIME. “And when they think that, it’s very disinhibiting because people then feel that, in a way, they might decide to vote for political parties which they do not believe [are] the solutions just because they feel that the situation is so desperate that they want change at any cost.”

“Change becomes a value in its own right,” he adds, saying that for many this sentiment isn’t partisan or ideological and might reflect a deeper dissatisfaction with political institutions and systems. “It’s about almost resenting the very way in which democracy works and gives some people the power to govern us.” 

2024 has been described as a “make-or-break year for democracy,” as the sheer number of elections—and what they reflect or fail to reflect about the will of various peoples—could significantly shape the course of the world’s future.

“Democracy around the world has been on decline in recent years, and the institution is still in a precarious position,” Samuel Woolley, the project director for propaganda research at the University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Media Engagement, tells TIME. This year will serve as a large-scale test to an institution already strained by growing trends of authoritarianism and political extremism, and elections in leading democracies like the U.S., in particular, Woolley says, will serve as “a bellwether of what is to come for the state of global governance.” 

Below are all the national elections around the world this year, with results through October, in chronological order.

(Not included in this list are indirect elections, such as Cambodia Senate, Democratic Republic of the Congo Senate, Nepal National Assembly, and Thailand Senate; places not recognized as countries by the U.N. other than Taiwan, such as Montserrat, Sint Maarten, Somaliland, and South Ossetia; and elections that have been postponed or canceled and are no longer expected in 2024, such as Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, North Korea, and Ukraine.)

JANUARY

Bangladesh

Type: Legislative
Date: Jan. 7
What to Know: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina secured a fourth term as her party the Awami League, along with its allies, won 225 out of 300 National Parliament seats in a largely uncontested election after the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party boycotted the polls to protest Hasina’s crackdown on political dissent. In August, Hasina resigned and fled the country, and the parliament was dissolved, amid mass anti-government protests. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus was tapped to lead the country’s interim government and has promised fresh elections after “vital reforms” are made to state institutions to ensure public trust.
Read More: What to Know About Muhammad Yunus and Bangladesh’s Uncertain Future

Bhutan

Type: Legislative
Date: Jan. 9 (second round; first round on Nov. 30, 2023)
What to Know: Economic frustrations in the landlocked kingdom of less than one million people thrust former Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, who led from 2013 to 2018, back into power after his People’s Democratic Party won a majority of seats in the National Assembly in a rebuke to the previous government.
Read More: Bhutan Opposition Party Wins Elections Amid Economic Threats to ‘Gross National Happiness’

Taiwan

Type: Presidential and Legislative
Date: Jan. 13
What to Know: In Taiwan’s much-watched election—largely due to the global implications of China’s increasing assertion of control over the self-ruled island—the Beijing-skeptical Democratic Progressive Party maintained the presidency with the victory of former Vice President Lai Ching-te, but it lost its majority in the Legislative Yuan to the Beijing-friendly Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang, which has already set out to constrain Lai’s government.
Read More: Taiwan’s Election Isn’t a Disaster for Xi Jinping—Unless He Makes It One

Comoros

Type: Presidential
Date: Jan. 14
What to Know: Comoros President Azali Assoumani, who came to power in a 1999 military coup, was reelected to a fourth term in an election that saw low voter turnout amid an opposition boycott. After the result, the army quelled street protests as Assoumani’s opponents alleged voter fraud.

Tuvalu

Type: Legislative
Date: Jan. 26
What to Know: In the absence of formal political parties in the small Pacific island nation, all candidates for 16 parliamentary seats are independent, and the winners later select the Prime Minister. After the country’s former leader Kausea Natano, who was an outspoken supporter of Tuvalu’s diplomatic relationship with Taipei over Beijing, lost his seat, former Attorney General Feleti Teo was named Prime Minister—though his new government has reaffirmed Tuvalu’s Taiwan ties.

FEBRUARY

El Salvador

Type: Presidential and Legislative
Date: Feb. 4
What to Know: President Nayib Bukele, the self-described “world’s coolest dictator” whose hardline crackdown has been credited with bringing down the country’s crime rate, was reelected with nearly 85% of the vote, while his New Ideas Party won a legislative supermajority, signaling massive public support for Bukele’s governance project despite accusations of democratic backsliding.

Read More: How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador

Azerbaijan

Type: Presidential
Date: Feb. 7
What to Know: President Ilham Aliyev, who has ruled the country since 2003, secured a fifth consecutive term after winning 92% of the vote, in an election that observers described as “devoid of genuine pluralism.” Aliyev called a snap election amid a popularity surge after Azerbaijani troops defeated separatists in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region last September.

Pakistan

Type: Legislative
Date: Feb. 8
What to Know: Despite Pakistan’s powerful military “brazenly” rigging the contest against jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, PTI-backed candidates won a plurality of parliamentary seats on an Election Day marred by violence and irregularities—and allegations of voter fraud. Still, a military-backed coalition headed by former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ultimately took power.
Read More: Pakistan’s Military Used Every Trick to Sideline Imran Khan—and Failed. Now What?

Finland

Type: Presidential
Date: Feb. 11 (runoff; first round on Jan. 28)
What to Know: Centrist former Prime Minister Alexander Stubb won 51.6% of the votes in a close runoff against independent liberal candidate Pekka Haavisto, who vied unsuccessfully for the third time to become Finland’s first gay President. The campaign to become head of state, a role that takes the lead on defense and foreign policy, was dominated by issues of internationalism and national security, particularly relations with neighbor Russia. Stubb, known for his love for the spotlight, is strongly pro-Europe and a vocal supporter of cooperation with NATO, which the country joined last year in response to the war in Ukraine.

Indonesia

Type: Presidential and Legislative
Date: Feb. 14
What to Know: Prabowo Subianto, the 72-year-old former general who was once condemned by the U.S. for alleged human rights abuses, won the Indonesian presidency after being tacitly endorsed by outgoing popular President Joko Widodo (colloquially known as Jokowi) and selecting Jokowi’s son as his running mate. Prabowo largely ran on a continuity platform, pledging to continue to prioritize economic development and to maintain the country’s relative neutrality on the world stage, while also campaigning on a populist nationwide free school lunch program.
Read More: What to Know About Prabowo Subianto as Uncertainty Looms for Indonesia’s Democracy

Belarus

Type: Legislative
Date: Feb. 25
What to Know: Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated President Alexander Lukashenko for solidifying his rule of Belarus, after the Russia ally held its first election—described as a “sham” by the U.S.—following nationwide protests against Lukashenko’s decadeslong regime in 2020. Lukashenko said he’d “learned his lesson” from the protests and that there would be “no rebellions” during the 2024 parliamentary vote, in which only candidates loyal to Lukashenko were permitted to compete and the opposition called for a boycott of the polls.

MARCH

Portugal

Type: Legislative
Date: Mar. 10
What to Know: In snap legislative elections called early after the resignation last year of the center-left Socialist Party Prime Minister António Costa, the center-right Democratic Alliance, led by Luís Montenegro of the Social Democratic Party, won a slim plurality in the country’s closest-ever parliamentary polls, which saw the rise of the far-right Chega party. The Democratic Alliance formed a minority government that left out Chega, whose insurgency threatens to disrupt the long two-party dominance of the Socialists and Social Democrats that have taken turns in power since Portugal’s revolution in 1974.
Read More: How Europe’s Far-Right Parties Are Winning Over Young Voters

Russia

Type: Presidential
Date: Mar. 15–17
What to Know: Russian President Vladimir Putin secured a six-year fifth term after winning nearly 90% of the vote in an election that had no viable opposition and was widely considered rigged, setting him on track to become the country’s longest serving President in two centuries.
Read More: Navalny Challenges Putin from Beyond the Grave

Senegal

Type: Presidential
Date: Mar. 24
What to Know: After a controversially-delayed vote, Bassirou Diomaye Faye—who was supported by popular opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, who Faye went on to appoint Prime Minister— won 54% of the vote, over 18% more than the second-place candidate Amadou Ba, outgoing President Macky Sall’s preferred successor. Faye and Sonko’s success, just days after their release from prison, marks a sharp break from the decades-old ruling coalition United in Hope and has been hailed by observers as a democratic success. In September, faced with parliamentary deadlock over his reform plans, Faye dissolved the opposition-led national assembly and called for a snap legislative election in November to bring about “systemic transformation.”

APRIL

Kuwait

Type: Legislative
Date: April 4
What to Know: Opposition candidates maintained a majority in Kuwait’s National Assembly, which appeared set to remain in deadlock with the country’s royal-appointed cabinet until Emir Sheikh Mishal al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who became the monarch last year, dissolved the parliament in May before it even met, and he suspended parliamentary government for up to four years—a drastic consolidation of power that Kuwait’s ruling family has only done twice before since the country’s independence in 1961. A number of former opposition parliamentarians have since been arrested and charged with challenging or insulting the authority of the Emir, who recently named his crown prince (a nomination that previously would have required parliamentary approval).

Slovakia

Type: Presidential
Date: April 6 (runoff; first round on Mar. 23)
What to Know: Peter Pellegrini, a longtime ally of pro-Russian Prime Minister Robert Fico, was elected President, a largely honorary yet influential role in Slovakia’s government, cementing Fico’s influence and rebuking the pro-Western opposition as well as the outgoing liberal presidency of Zuzana Čaputová, which Pellegrini described as an “opposition, opportunistic power center.”

South Korea

Type: Legislative
Date: April 10
What to Know: Amid an alleged corruption scandal and dismal approval ratings, President Yoon Suk-yeol’s conservative People Power Party, suffered a landslide defeat to opposition parties, exacerbating stalemate in parliament as the country faces record-high suicides, record-low births, and increasing threats from North Korea.

Croatia

Type: Legislative
Date: April 17
What to Know: The pro-Ukraine, pro-West ruling center-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), which has been marred by corruption scandals and criticisms of growing illiberalism in recent years, won a plurality of seats and formed a coalition government with the third-place far-right nationalist Homeland Movement. HDZ leader Andrej Plenković secured a third term as Prime Minister, beating back a challenge by the pro-Russia, mostly-ceremonial President Zoran Milanović, whose euroskeptic Social Democratic Party placed second.

Solomon Islands

Type: Legislative
Date: April 17
What to Know: The ruling Ownership, Unity and Responsibility (OUR) party, led by four-time Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, performed well below expectations. After Sogavare stepped down as leader of the party, which still won a plurality of 15 seats in the 50-member parliament, new OUR leader former foreign minister Jeremiah Manele was elected Prime Minister by a secret ballot among fellow legislators. Manele is expected to continue pursuing closer relations with China as Washington and Beijing compete for influence in the Pacific.

India

Type: Legislative
Date: April 19 – June 1
What to Know: After a campaign defined by rampant disinformation, Narendra Modi secured a third term as Prime Minister, though his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has overseen a divisive Hindu nationalist movement, lost its outright majority in the Lok Sabha for the first time in a decade. Observers say the result likely stems from voters’ economic frustrations and that it may temper the BJP’s domestic policy ambitions while having a smaller impact on Modi’s foreign policy assertiveness.
Read More: What Modi 3.0 Means for the World

Maldives

Type: Legislative
Date: April 21
What to Know: President Mohamed Muizzu’s People’s National Congress party won a shock landslide victory, cementing his power and affirming his efforts to tilt the archipelagic nation toward China and away from its traditional ally India, which recently began a tourist boycott of the popular vacation destination.

Togo

Type: Legislative
Date: April 29
What to Know: Togo’s parliamentary polls were overshadowed by controversial constitutional reform passed just before the election and signed just after by President Faure Gnassingbé, who has led the country since the 2005 death of his father, who ruled for 38 years, making them the longest-lasting dynasty in Africa. The reform eliminates direct presidential elections, allowing the parliament—of which Gnassingbe’s ruling party just won 108 of 113 seats amid a crackdown on civic and media freedoms—to choose a ceremonial President who then appoints what is effectively a prime minister. It’s seen as a way for Gnassingbé to skirt his upcoming presidential term limits, which he’d already extended, and continue ruling indefinitely.

MAY

Panama

Type: Presidential and Legislative
Date: May 5
What to Know: Amid widespread discontent about the economy and corruption, Panama’s ruling and largest party the center-left Democratic Revolutionary Party, led by incumbent Vice President José Gabriel Carrizo, suffered massive electoral defeat in the presidential and parliamentary elections, while the right-wing Realizing Goals party won a plurality in both. José Raúl Mulino, who was initially the Realizing Goals running mate of former President Ricardo Martinelli, ended up topping the ticket and was elected President after Martinelli was convicted of money laundering and subsequently disqualified.

Chad

Type: Presidential
Date: May 6
What to Know: In the first presidential election since Mahamat Idriss Déby seized power in 2021 as interim leader after his father President Idriss Déby was killed by rebels, Déby won 61% of the vote to extend his rule—though international observers cast doubt on the election’s credibility.

North Macedonia

Type: Presidential and Legislative
Date: May 8 (presidential runoff; first round on April 24)
What to Know: Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, of the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party, defeated incumbent center-left President Stevo Pendarovski to become the country’s first female President. Meanwhile, VMRO-DPMNE won a plurality of 55 out of 120 parliamentary seats, fueled by voters’ anger at the country’s slow integration into the E.U., and formed a coalition government that’s expected to continue the former ruling coalition’s support of Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.

Iran

Type: Legislative
Date: May 10 (second round; first round on Mar. 1)
What to Know: Conservative candidates won most of the seats in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, Iran’s parliament, as well as the Assembly of Experts, a body of religious scholars who select the country’s Supreme Leader—though the election had the lowest turnout since the country’s 1979 revolution as activists, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, called for a boycott.

Dominican Republic

Type: Presidential and Legislative
Date: May 19
What to Know: Domestically popular President Luis Abinader easily won a second term, as voters signaled their approval of his handling of the economy and tough stance on strife-torn neighbor Haiti, while his Modern Revolutionary Party grew its majorities in both houses of Congress.

Lithuania

Type: Presidential
Date: May 26 (runoff; first round on May 12)
What to Know: President Gitanas Nausėda was reelected to a second term with more than 74% of the vote, the highest support a presidential candidate has received since Lithuania’s independence in 1990, as voters—amid concerns about Russia’s invasion Ukraine—entrusted the incumbent over Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė for a role that oversees defense and foreign policy.

Madagascar

Type: Legislative
Date: May 29
What to Know: According to provisional results by the National Electoral Commission, the ruling coalition led by President Andry Rajoelina’s center-left party narrowly lost its majority, winning 80 of 163 seats in the National Assembly. But according to official results released in late June by the High Constitutional Court, the coalition retained its majority with 84 seats, amid allegations of voter fraud and a crackdown on the political opposition.

South Africa

Type: Legislative
Date: May 29
What to Know: The African National Congress, which has ruled South Africa since its first democratic elections in 1994 when Nelson Mandela became President, lost its majority in parliament for the first time. ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa was elected by the National Assembly to a second term as President after forming an uneasy coalition with white-led rival party the Democratic Alliance to create what they dubbed a “national unity” government, though it’s already been wracked by divisions.

JUNE

Iceland

Type: Presidential
Date: June 1
What to Know: Halla Tómasdóttir, a businesswoman who said she would “rise above all party politics,” was elected to the largely ceremonial presidency after winning a plurality of 34% of the vote—beating a dozen competitors, including former Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, who was viewed as too political, and arctic and energy scholar Halla Hrund Logadóttir.

Mexico

Type: Presidential and Legislative
Date: June 2
What to Know: Claudia Sheinbaum of the populist left-wing Morena party, who positioned herself as a continuation of outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, won by a landslide to become the country’s first female President. Morena and its allies also dominated in the legislative elections, winning a two-thirds supermajority in the Chamber of Deputies (the lower house), and falling just short of the same in the Senate—setting the stage for Sheinbaum to try to implement sweeping reforms and address nationwide concerns like organized crime and gender-based violence.
Read More: The Meaning of Mexico’s First Female President

European Union Parliament

Date: June 6–9
What to Know: The conservative European People’s Party won 190 out of 720 seats—the most of any party—signifying a rightward lurch for the E.U.’s lawmaking body, though incumbent European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, a centrist, maintains a narrow path to another term via a liberal coalition.
Read More: This 28-Year-Old Is the New Face of Europe’s Far Right

Belgium

Type: Legislative
Date: June 9
What to Know: The conservative New Flemish Alliance retained its position as the biggest party in parliament after winning 25.6% of the vote, while the far-right Vlaams Belang party took 21.8%. Prime Minister Alexander De Croo tendered his resignation after a poor showing by his liberal Open VLD party, though he remains the caretaker leader until coalition talks are completed.

Bulgaria

Type: Legislative
Date: June 9
What to Know: The election—the country’s sixth in just three years, prompted by the collapse of the ruling coalition led by the conservative GERB party and the reformist We Continue the Change party—comes in the wake of massive anti-corruption protests and a series of failed coalition governments. GERB won a plurality of 68 out of 240 seats in a fragmented parliament, but political instability looks set to continue: after multiple failed attempts to form a government, President Rumen Radev called for new snap elections to be held in October.

San Marino

Type: Legislative
Date: June 9
What to Know: About 19,000 people in the European microstate of 34,000, where access to the E.U.’s single market is the predominant political issue, turned up to vote for a new Grand and General Council—which later chooses the country’s key executive leaders. The election was competed mainly between a coalition of pro-European parties (Libera, the Socialist Party, and the Party of Socialists and Democrats), and a rival, more euroskeptic coalition led by the largest party the center-right Sammarinese Christian Democratic Party and the newly-formed Reformist Alliance. The latter ended up winning a plurality of 26 of 60 parliamentary seats, besting the other coalition by 8 seats, and is expected to form the government and pursue fiscal reform.

Mongolia

Type: Legislative
Date: June 28
What to Know: Amid frustrations about the economy and corruption and after a constitutional amendment increased the number of seats in the State Great Khural, the center-left ruling Mongolian People’s Party led by Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene lost its supermajority but narrowly retained a parliamentary majority—winning 68 of 126 seats, according to preliminary results, while observers say the strong turnout (nearly 70%) and gains made by the opposition suggests “desire for some change.”

Mauritania

Type: Presidential
Date: June 29
What to Know: According to provisional results, President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, whose Equity Party has dominated parliament for years and who is viewed by many as bringing stability to the country despite high levels of poverty, was reelected to a second term with 56% of the vote—though his opponent, activist Biram Dah Abeid who received 22% of the vote, rejected the results, citing irregularities. 

JULY

United Kingdom

Type: Legislative
Date: July 4
What to Know: The Tories, plagued in recent years by a series of scandals, simmering public dissatisfaction, and rocky leadership changes, were heavily defeated by the Labour Party led by now-Prime Minister Keir Starmer—an outcome that surprised few. In his victory speech, Starmer declared: “Change begins now.”
Read More: Labour Delivered a Decisive Victory in Britain. Now Comes the Hard Part

Iran

Type: Presidential
Date: July 5 (runoff; first round on June 28)
What to Know: Iran’s race to replace President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May, ended with Masoud Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon and reformist candidate, defeating ultraconservative fundamentalist Saeed Jalili in an election that saw historically low voter turnout. Pezeshkian pledged greater diplomacy with the West and an easing of the country’s controversial hijab law, but it remains to be seen how far Pezeshkian can go in fulfilling these promises, as Iran’s theocratic government, led by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is still largely controlled by hardliners.
Read More: How the Mahsa Amini Protests Loom Over Iran’s Presidential Election

France

Type: Legislative
Date: July 7 (second round; first round on June 30)
What to Know: Citizens and world leaders celebrated after French voters rejected Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally. But though the leftist New Popular Front coalition won the most parliamentary seats, also placing ahead of French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance, it fell short of securing a majority, leaving a rare hung parliament that leaves the government facing uncertainty and likely instability. In September, Macron finally unveiled a new government dominated by conservatives and centrists, signaling a shift to the right.

Rwanda

Type: Presidential and Legislative
Date: July 15
What to Know: President Paul Kagame, who has led the country since 2000, won more than 99% of the vote in an election that critics say was devoid of serious political opponents. Kagame’s ruling party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front, retained its majority in the Chamber of Deputies, albeit by a slightly smaller margin than the last election. Kagame has been credited with helping to end the genocide in Rwanda three decades ago and ushering in economic growth, though he has also consistently faced criticisms of political repression.

Syria

Type: Legislative
Date: July 15
What to Know: In civil war-torn Syria, President Bashar al-Assad has “turned elections into bureaucratic rituals with predetermined outcomes, using them to reward loyalists and reshuffle patronage networks,” according to British think tank Chatham House. In the latest polls, Assad’s Ba'ath Party expectedly retained its majority in the People’s Assembly, as all 185 candidates associated or allied with the party won seats. Only 38% of Syria’s nearly 20 million eligible voters turned out to vote. With the election further cementing Assad’s grip on power, the new parliament is expected to amend the constitution to extend his term, which is set to end in 2028.

Venezuela

Type: Presidential
Date: July 28
What to Know: President Nicolás Maduro, whose rule since 2013 has been described as a dictatorship, was named the winner of Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election with 51% of the vote—though the results, which were announced after a delay and contradicted multiple exit polls, have sparked skepticism among the domestic opposition and foreign leaders.

AUGUST

Kiribati

Type: Legislative
Date: Aug. 19 (runoff; first round on Aug. 14)
What to Know: The small island nation of 130,000, which is battling rising sea levels and rising cost of living, is considered a strategic spot for great power rivalry due to its location in the Pacific Ocean and proximity to Hawaii. Its pro-Beijing President Taneti Maamau, who had controversially broken the nation’s ties with Taiwan in favor of China, retained his seat in the House of Assembly. Opposition leader Tessie Eria Lambourne, who was formerly the nation’s ambassador to Taiwan and is considered best-positioned to dethrone Maamau, was also reelected. The new parliament, when it sits in September, will nominate candidates for the presidency to be voted on by the public in October.

SEPTEMBER

Azerbaijan

Type: Legislative
Date: Sept. 1
What to Know: In a snap election called after Azerbaijan recaptured the breakaway region of  Nagorno-Karabakh long controlled by ethnic forces, the ruling New Azerbaijan Party narrowly retained its majority in parliament—though the election was slammed by observers as undemocratic.

Algeria

Type: Presidential
Date: Sept. 7
What to Know: In an election widely seen as tilted in his favor, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune won a second five-year term by securing 84% of the vote—a revised figure after his opponents challenged the election authority’s initial claim that the 78-year-old had won 95% of the vote. Tebboune became President in 2019 amid a widely boycotted election, and he has drawn criticism for repressing human rights activists and the media.

Jordan

Type: Legislative
Date: Sept. 10
What to Know: The Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Islamic Action Front (IAF), an influential Islamist opposition party, tripled its parliamentary representation to a plurality of 31 out of 138 seats—though it failed to secure an outright majority. The historic win for the IAF comes amid growing anger over the war in Gaza among Jordanians, many of whom are of Palestinian origin. The IAF has regularly held protests against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and in support of Hamas.

Sri Lanka

Type: Presidential
Date: Sept. 21
What to Know: Marxist politician Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who campaigned on a platform of anti-corruption, won the South Asian nation’s first election held after a crippling political and economic crisis in 2022, which saw former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa ousted by protesters.

Czechia

Type: Legislative
Date: Sept. 28 (second round; first round on Sept. 20–21)
What to Know: The ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Petr Fiala retained its majority in the Senate election, though opposition party ANO made historic gains, winning eight out of 27 contested seats in the 81-member Senate. ANO, a populist party led by billionaire former Prime Minister Andrej Babis, similarly won big in regional elections held the same month.

Austria

Type: Legislative
Date: Sept. 29
What to Know: The Russia-friendly Freedom Party narrowly beat the ruling conservative Austrian People’s Party to win the far-right’s biggest victory in a legislative election since World War II—though it fell short of an outright majority to form the government. (All four other parties in parliament have rejected the idea of forming a coalition with Freedom Party leader Herbert Kickl, a polarizing figure.)

OCTOBER

Tunisia

Type: Presidential
Date: Oct. 6
What to Know: Incumbent President Kais Saied secured another term with over 90% of the vote, after a crackdown on his main opponents, a boycott by both opposition parties, and a voter turnout of under 30%. Saied, who was first elected to the presidency in 2019 with promises of eradicating cronyism, has been criticized for reversing democratic gains in the birthplace of the Arab Spring. During his first term, Saied dismissed ministers, consolidated his presidential powers, and oversaw the arrests of his critics.
Read More: The Sorry State of Tunisia’s Democracy

Mozambique

Type: Presidential and Legislative
Date: Oct. 9
What to Know: Ruling party Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) extended its five-decade rule over Mozambique, winning additional seats in Parliament and with President-elect Daniel Chapo securing 70% of the vote. But the election was tainted by vote irregularities and killings, and the party of charismatic independent candidate Venancio Mondlane is challenging the result in court while Mondlane has called for multiple nationwide shutdowns in protest.

Lithuania

Type: Legislative
Date: Oct. 27 (second round; first round on Oct. 13)
What to Know: Center-left opposition parties led by the Social Democrats ended the four-year rule of the Homeland Union government led by conservative Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė. But observers say the election is unlikely to change Lithuania’s pro-West, anti-Russia direction. 

Kiribati

Type: Presidential
Date: Oct. 25
What to Know: Taneti Maamau, 64, of the ruling Tobwaan Kiribati Party, won his third consecutive presidential term with about 55% of the vote. Under Maamau, Kiribati has warmed up to China, to the chagrin of the U.S. and its allies as competition for influence in the Pacific heats up. Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Maamau on his reelection.

Georgia

Type: Legislative
Date: Oct. 26
What to Know: In a high-stakes election to determine the course of the former Soviet state bordering Russia, Georgian Dream, the ruling party led by billionaire and former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, won a majority of seats in Parliament, a victory set to deepen the rift with the pro-Western opposition. Under Georgian Dream’s rule, the country has steered towards Western rivals China and Russia. President Salome Zourabichvili, who opposes Georgian Dream but holds nominal power, called for protests after denying the election results and saying that the country had fallen to a “Russian special operation,” amid reports of foreign meddling and domestic irregularities. As protesters take to the streets and Ivanishvili vows a crackdown on the opposition, the country appears headed for a political crisis.

Bulgaria

Type: Legislative
Date: Oct. 27
What to Know: Center-right GERB party won the snap parliamentary election, with 26.4% of the votes. A snap election was called after multiple attempts to form a government since June parliamentary elections failed, but with only one seat added to the 68 it previously won, GERB, led by former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, faces an impasse again as it tries to find coalition partners to provide political stability to the Balkan state.

Japan

Type: Legislative
Date: Oct. 27
What to Know: For the first time since 2009, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) led by newly-elected Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and its coalition ally lost its majority in the 465-seat lower house, with observers pointing to public discontent over rising costs and a political funding scandal that’s marred the party. Ishiba, who had called for snap elections after winning a party leadership contest in September, now faces an uncertain future as the LDP struggles to find new coalition partners to form a government.
Read More: What Japan’s Next Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba Means for the World

Uruguay

Type: Legislative
Date: Oct. 27
What to Know: In Uruguay, considered one of Latin America’s most stable democracies, voters effectively chose between the ruling center-right Republican Coalition and the opposition center-left Broad Front. The Broad Front secured 16 of 30 seats in the Senate and won 48 of 99 seats in the lower house, a plurality just shy of a majority. Candidates from the two leading parties will head to a run-off presidential election in November, which is expected to be close but ultimately low-stakes given the broad consensus between the two factions. Uruguayans also voted on two plebiscites—one on pension reform and another on police powers—that both appear to have fallen short of the majority needed to pass, according to exit polls. 

Uzbekistan

Type: Legislative
Date: Oct. 27
What to Know: Uzbekistan’s election was criticized for having no real opposition given that all candidates belonged to parties loyal to President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. The election comes amid wide-ranging electoral and economic reforms implemented by Mirziyoyev to move the country past the repressive rule of his predecessor Islam Karimov, though critics say his efforts have fallen short of true democratization and instead resulted in an “upgraded autocracy.”

Botswana

Type: Legislative
Date: Oct. 30
What to Know: Botswana, considered one of the most stable democracies in Africa though dominated by a single party since independence, is poised to see the shock end of the Botswana Democratic Party’s almost six-decade rule, with opposition parties earning a majority of parliamentary seats, according to initial poll results, and incumbent President Mokgweetsi Masisi conceding defeat, as parliament will elect a new President. The Botswana Democratic Party has been blamed for the country’s economic slowdown due to weaker diamond demand and increased unemployment.

NOVEMBER

Moldova

Type: Presidential
Date: Nov. 3 (second round; first round on Oct. 20)

Palau

Type: Presidential and Legislative
Date: Nov. 5

United States

Type: Presidential and Legislative
Date: Nov. 5
Read More: Donald Trump on What His Second Term Would Look Like

Mauritius

Type: Legislative
Date: Nov. 10

Sri Lanka

Type: Legislative
Date: Nov. 14

Senegal

Type: Legislative
Date: Nov. 17

Guinea Bissau

Type: Legislative
Date: Nov. 24

Romania

Type: Presidential
Date: Nov. 24 (potential runoff on Dec. 8)

Uruguay

Type: Presidential
Date: Nov. 24 (runoff; first round on Oct. 27)

Namibia

Type: Presidential and Legislative
Date: Nov. 27

Iceland

Type: Legislative
Date: Nov. 30

DECEMBER

Romania

Type: Legislative
Date: Dec. 1

Ghana

Type: Presidential and Legislative
Date: Dec. 7

Chad

Type: Legislative
Date: Dec. 29

Croatia

Type: Presidential
Date: TBD (first round; second round in January 2025)