Lessons from the elections held in 70 countries in 2024

Some 70 countries that are home to half the world’s population held elections in 2024, and voters' message was often: “You’re fired.” From India and the United States to Japan, France and Britain, voters tired of economic disruption and global instability rejected sitting governments. Adding to a year of democratic turmoil were mass protests in Mozambique and Georgia, an election annulled in Romania and an attempt to impose martial law in South Korea. Cas Mudde, a professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia, summed up 2024 as “a great year for the far right, a terrible year for incumbents and a troublesome year for democracy around the world.”