Tuesday, June 11, 2024

June has proven to be an interesting month so far, with some highly controversial world election results.

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On June 1, businesswoman Halla Tomasdottir won Iceland’s presidential election with 34.3% of the vote. Although the position is mostly ceremonial, Tomasdottir ran on a platform not beholden to party politics. According to ABC News:

Tomasdottir, 55, campaigned as someone who was above party politics and could help open discussions on fundamental issues such as the effect of social media on the mental health of young people, Iceland’s development as a tourist destination and the role of artificial intelligence.

Meanwhile, in our own backyard, Mexico saw its ruling leftist Morena party win in a landslide. President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum also beat her opponent by double digits. The landslide left-wing victory has paved the way for what some predict will be “radical changes to the constitution.”

In the European Union, far-right parties secured some major victories, winning several seats in the European Parliament in France, Italy, and Germany. This does not mean, however, that the European Union will skew right. According to CNN:

Despite a far-right surge, the centrist European People’s Party (EPP) was the biggest single winner on Sunday night.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a speech late on Sunday that the group – predicted to secure the most seats – could still act as an “anchor of stability.” …

Von der Leyen appeared to rule out any possibility of the party banding together with the far-right factions, telling journalists that she will be reaching out to The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and centrist and liberal Renew Europe to form a “broad majority for a strong Europe.”

Lastly, on Sunday, Belgium’s elections were dominated by the nationalist New Flemish Alliance, which secured 22% of the vote. Overall, right-wing parties scored better than the far-left party and the ruling liberal party, which trailed behind all competitors.

Thursday, April 18, 2024

South Korea’s liberal opposition party won last week’s elections in a landslide. According to NPR:

The main opposition Democratic Party, which already holds majority control, won 175 seats in the 300-member single-chamber parliament of South Korea.

The ruling conservative People Power Party took home 108 seats, becoming an even smaller minority than it is now.

…

The outcome is largely interpreted as a judgment on President Yoon, whose approval ratings have stayed below 40% for most of his two years in office.

This result is expected to further complicate things for the nation’s conservative president.

North Korea’s ruling Worker’s Party, meanwhile, won with over 99% of the vote.

Monday, March 18, 2024

Russian President Vladimir Putin won a fifth term in his nation’s elections over the weekend. According to The New York Times:

President Vladimir V. Putin on Sunday extended his rule over Russia until 2030, using a heavily stage-managed presidential election with no real competition to portray overwhelming public support for his domestic dominance and his invasion of Ukraine.

Some Russians tried to turn the undemocratic vote into a protest, forming long lines at polling stations at a predetermined time — noon — to register their discontent. At the same time, Ukraine sought to cast its own vote of sorts by firing a volley of exploding drones at Moscow and other targets.

But the Kremlin brushed those challenges aside and released results after the polls closed claiming that Mr. Putin had won 87 percent of the vote — an even higher number than in the four previous elections he participated in.

This victory means that Russia’s war in Ukraine will likely continue into the foreseeable future.

Additionally, Portugal saw a shift in its government last week as conservatives won the nation election. According to The New York Times:

Portugal’s Socialist Party conceded defeat on Sunday night in a very tight national election that ended the party’s eight years in power and reflected the country’s drift to the right, which follows a broader trend in Europe.

That shift was marked by the ascent of Chega, an anti-establishment, right-wing party, which skyrocketed from recent irrelevance to become the third most popular party in Portugal.

The Socialist Party, which has been hobbled by a corruption investigation, had been running neck and neck with the Democratic Alliance, a center-right coalition, until late in the evening, when the Socialist leader conceded at a news conference.

Furthermore, we covered that voters in Ireland overwhelmingly rejected proposed changes to the definitions of “women” and “marriage” in the nation’s constitution.

The election results in Portugal and Ireland both demonstrate a win for traditional, conservative values in Europe. Is this the beginning of a shift in global power?

We will continue to update this article to bring you the latest news about world elections. In the meantime, we encourage you to pray through our resource on the topic, “Will world elections bring an unprecedented shift of global power in 2024?”

Share your prayers for 2024’s many world elections below.

(Photo Credit: Sergey Nivens via Canva Pro)