Americans eagerly near our next presidential election this year, but we aren’t the only country voting. How will 2024 affect some of the largest nations around the world?

From Just the News. More than half the people in the world live in countries that will hold national elections in 2024, an electoral calendar that could reshape global history and define relations between the world’s two largest economies — the United States and China’s.

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The first major election of the year will take place Jan. 13 in Taiwan, where the outcome is sure to spark a response from neighboring China – either an increase or decrease in the defense posture. …

Meanwhile, the leading candidates in Taiwan’s upcoming election each has different takes on how to best handle the prickly relationship with Beijing.

Ten months later, U.S. voters will go to the polls, most likely to choose between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump – a rematch from four years earlier. …

In addition to Taiwan, then U.S. voting, there are national elections of some kind in at least 60 other countries in what may be the largest display of democracy in history.

Voters this year will decide on new leaders (among many others) in the European Union, India, Iran, Mexico, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and perhaps in Ukraine. …

Here’s a guide to the most impactful elections of 2024:

• In the European Union, citizens of 27 member states will in June cast votes for members of the European Parliament. …

The outcome of the vote could have a big impact on everything from aid for Ukraine to rules governing artificial intelligence and refugee policy. …

• The war in Gaza has dominated the news in Iran, which will nonetheless select new legislators in March. Nobody is expecting wholesale changes in the Islamic state, which the U.S. says is a major sponsor of global terrorism. But crackdowns there in 2022 caused widespread protests, leaving Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to choose between risking international condemnation for disqualifying critics from running or having the legislature dominated by rivals.

U.S. southern neighbor Mexico will almost surely elect its first female head of state in June.

The question is whether it will be progressive Claudia Sheinbaum … or businesswoman and opposition figure Xóchitl Gálvez, an anti-corruption campaigner who emphasizes indigenous rights. Both candidates favor working with the U.S. on border issues. …

• Slow economic growth and controversies related to immigration are the main obstacles for conservative U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, raising the possibility that a labor government could take power in London for the first time since 2010. …

• In Ukraine, the debate is whether to even hold the election scheduled for March. …

With so many countries voting, it’s more important than ever that we pray, both for the candidates running and the people voting. Share this article to encourage others to intercede.

(Excerpt from Just the News. Photo Credit: Element5 Digital on Unsplash)