How the world votes in 2024 | Election news

A significant number of countries returned incumbent leaders, some of whom, like South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa and India's Modi, returned to power with reduced numbers and coalitions, rather than the larger majorities they had before.

Holders:

Algeria: Algerian leader Abdelmajid Tebboon was re-elected president with a 94.7% votes in September.

Azerbaijan: President Ilham Aliyev provided a fifth term took office in February after heavy repression of the media and in the absence of real opposition.

Belarus: President Alexander Lukashenko retained power in the legislature in parliamentary elections in February. A staunch ally of Russia, Lukashenko has been accused of rigging previous elections and destroying the political opposition. The presidential election will be held in January 2025.

Bulgaria: The center-right party DEAR led but failed to win a majority of the vote in the country's seventh snap election in four years in October.

Chad: Mahamat Idris Deby was confirmed as the winner in May presidential elections after rejecting challenges from two losing candidates – extending his family's decade-long rule. Parliamentary elections were held in the country on Sunday, December 29. The results have not been announced yet.

Comoros Islands: President Azali Assoumani won a fourth five-year term in the island nation. He was declared the winner against five opponents with 62.97 percent of the vote. Protests rocked the country, and after the results were announced, the army imposed a curfew.

Croatia: To Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovich The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) has formed a coalition to continue governing after the April vote.

Dominican Republic: Louis Abinader won a second term in May with 58.5 percent of the vote after a tough stance on migration from neighboring Haiti won him support.

Georgia: The ruling Georgian Dream party of the billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili won more than 54 percent of the votes in the parliamentary elections. The results are seen as a blow to pro-Western Georgians, who had framed the election as a choice between a ruling party that has deepened ties with Russia and an opposition that hoped to accelerate integration with the European Union.

India: Narendra Modi's BJP won a third term, but not with a majority – unlike previous terms. Modi was forced to form a governing coalition against an opposition led by Rahul Gandhi that won seats and visibility across the country.

Lithuania: Gintautas Paluckas took over as prime minister in December after the Social Democrats formed a government in coalition with the Nemunas Dawn and For Lithuania parties, controlling 86 seats in the 141-member parliament.

Pakistan: In February, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif returned to power after a controversial election in which his family-led political party, the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN), failed to secure the numbers on its own. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party was disqualified ahead of the vote, but its candidates contested as independents, winning more seats than any other party. Sharif formed a government in coalition with the Pakistan People's Party. The PTI has alleged that there was electoral malpractice in the vote, which the government denies.

Russia: Vladimir Putin won his fifth presidential election with 87 percent of the vote, the highest result in Russia's post-Soviet history.

Rwanda: Paul Kagame won his fourth term in office with 99 percent of the vote. His critics accuse him of repression against opponents. His supporters argue that his critics are little more than Western puppets unwilling to accept his popularity.

South Africa: Cyril Ramaphosa by the African National Congress was re-elected President of South Africa for a second term. Having lost its majority in parliament for the first time since 1994. since then, the ruling African National Congress has formed a clumsy coalition with political rivals to stay in power.

Taiwan: in January, Lai Ching-te – also known as William Lai – of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won Taiwan's presidential election despite warnings from China not to vote for him. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and views Lai, a staunch critic of Beijing, as a separatist. Lai was Taiwan's vice president under outgoing president Tsai Ing-wen.

Togo: Togo's ruling UNIR party, led by President Faure Gnassingbe, won 108 out of 113 seats in parliament. The overwhelming majority comes after the outgoing parliament approved controversial constitutional reforms that could extend the Gnassingbe family's 57-year rule.

Tunisia: In October, President Qais Syed won a second term in presidential elections. Several other presidential candidates were jailed. In 2021 Syed dissolved the elected parliament and rewrote the constitution in a move the opposition called a coup.

Venezuela: in July Nicolás Maduro won re-election with 51 percent of the vote, his third victory since he first assumed the presidency in 2013. after the death of his mentor and former president Hugo Chavez. The United Socialist Party has been in power for 25 years. Protests erupted demanding the release of polling station results as the opposition said the results of the July 28 election were rigged. Maduro's government has cracked down on opposition protesters and leaders, forcing many to seek refuge in foreign embassies.

New Leaders:

Austria: in September, AustriaThe far-right Freedom Party (FPO) emerged victorious after the country's parliamentary elections. Although the FPO won the most votes, it did not win by a large enough margin to govern on its own. Coalition talks will continue into the new year as the three centrist parties come under pressure to reach a deal, with none wanting to join the FPO.

Botswana: in November Word Boko was declared the winner of the election over incumbent Mokgwitsi Masisi in a seismic shift that ended the ruling party's 58 years in power since independence from Britain in 1960.

Bhutan: Tshering Tobgai returned as prime minister, with his People's Democratic Party (PDP) winning the most seats in Bhutan's January parliamentary elections and defeating the Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT).

Iceland: In December, Iceland's center-left Social Democratic Alliance won the most votes in snap elections triggered by the collapse of the coalition in power for the past seven years. Kristrun Frostadottir assumed his role as Prime Minister on 21 December. Earlier, in June, Halla Tomasdottir was elected president of Iceland, defeating incumbent Gudni Johannesson with 55 percent of the vote.

Indonesia: A former general, Prabowo Subianto, became president of the world's third most populous country, with a running mate, Jibran Rakabuming Raka, son of former president Joko Widodo.

Iran: Massoud Pezeshkiyan won the presidential election in July. A reformist, Pezeshkian assumed the role of president amid Israel's ongoing war against Palestine and its ramifications in the wider Middle East, and following the death of former president Ebrahim Raisi.

Mexico: Claudia Scheinbaumclimatologist and former mayor of Mexico City, became Mexico's first female president after a landslide victory in June, taking over from her party's leader, Morena Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Portugal: In March, a center-right alliance led by the Social Democratic Party won Portugal's general election by a narrow margin and formed a minority government. The hard-right The Chega party made big gains and claimed a seat in the cabinetbut the centre-right alliance formed a cabinet without them.

Senegal: In March, an opposition candidate Basiru Diomaye Fay won 54% of the vote in the presidential election. His victory came just 10 days after he was released from prison.

Sri Lanka: in November To Anura Kumara Dissanayake left-wing coalition scored a landslide victory in early parliamentary elections, giving the self-styled Marxist leader a powerful mandate to fight poverty and corruption in the crisis-hit nation.

Tuvalu: Former Attorney General, Flat Theowas named the new prime minister after a general election ousted the island's pro-Taiwanese leader. Teo's elevation to prime minister came after his pro-Taiwan predecessor Causea Nathano lost his seat in the Jan. 26 election.

United Kingdom: In the lowest turnout in 20 years, UK voters completed 14 years from the Conservative Party's rule in a snap election that returned Keir Starmer and the Labor Party back to Downing Street.

Against the backdrop of an economic and health crisis, there has been a surge in support for the populist right-wing Reform UK party.

USA: Donald Trump emerged victorious in November, defeating Kamala Harris in the Electoral College by a comfortable margin as many states that had previously voted for Democrats fell to Republicans.

Removed Leaders:

Bangladesh: Sheikh Hasina was re-elected in January 2024. for his fifth term as prime minister. In June, protests erupted against the quota policy, which quickly grew into a movement against her increasingly authoritarian rule. After days of deadly clashes between protesters and security forces, Hasina resigned and fled to India in early August. At least 280 people were killed and thousands were injured.

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was appointed head of an interim government until elections are held.

Syria: Bashar al-Assad held parliamentary elections in July, in which all 250 seats went to his Baath party. But five months later he was out of power. Opposition forces captured Damascus in the early hours of December 8 in a lightning assault, ending 50 years of rule by the al-Assad family in a surprise offensive.

A 13-year civil war in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed, thousands disappeared and six million fled the country is finally over.

The offensive, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, known as Abu Mohammed al-Julani, installed an interim administration that will install the new constitution and new government.