The Ballot Box: Elections Around the World

We have returned for a special look at the UK's dramatic 2024 election, which saw Labour win a landslide majority on a record low share of the vote and Ed Davey humiliate himself for attention. Features some unavoidable discussion of Chris' mortgage. Chris also published this insightful piece, and Jonathan was inspired to rant about FPTP a bit.

In a jam-packed episode we cover the Paraguayan general election, more Chilean constitutional drama and briefly share our thoughts on England’s local elections. There’s continuity, a right-wing surprise and 1000 Tory loses inside, so give it a listen! Follow us on Twitter @ballotworld and please rate and subscribe wherever you listen.

On 2nd April Montenegro held the second round of momentous presidential elections that saw long-term ruler Milo Đukanović leave office. And on the same day Bulgarian held yet another parliamentary election, with the potential for more to come. Follow us on twitter @ballotworld and rate and subscribe wherever you're listening.

Finland and Andorra both went to the polls on 2nd April for elections which featured both continuity and change. We’ll break down the political dynamics of both countries and just what the results mean going forward.

The Netherlands held provincial, water board and island council elections on 15th March. The results sent waves through Dutch politics- essentially all the parties lost seats to the agro-populist BBB, the BoerBurgerBeweging  or Farmer-Citizen Movement, which surged to almost 20 per cent of the vote from almost nothing. The councillors elected today will also elect the Dutch Senate, directly impacting the future of the national government. Follow us on twitter @ballotworld and please do rate and subscribe wherever you're listening.

Estonia held elections on 5th March, which saw the Reform party of incumbent PM Kaja Kallas come first with a record 31.2% of the vote. No coalition now looks feasible without Reform, thus extending the party’s dominance over Estonian politics. Issues around security and cost-of-living dominated in the election, in light of Estonia’s prominent support for Ukraine during the war. The elections also made headlines as they were the first elections in the world where more voters cast their ballots online than in person.  Follow us on twitter @ballotworld and please rate and subscribe wherever you're listening!

Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa and among the world’s biggest democracies, held its presidential election on February 25, with 76-year old Bola Tinubu of the incumbent All Progressive Congress being declared the winner with 36% of the vote. The election comes at a time when Nigeria faces multiple issues, including economic challenges. However, news reports indicate that several Nigerian opposition parties have called for a repeat of the election and called the results “heavily doctored and manipulated." To help us make sense of all of this is is Dr. Nkwachukwu Orji of the University of Nigeria. Please do rate and subscribe wherever you're listening, and follow us on twitter @ballotworld.

On 12th February Cyprus held the second round of one of its most dramatic presidential elections yet. While favourite Nikos Christodoulides had been leading the polls by massive margins in the run-up to the election, he ended up winning a very close contest. To find out why we dig into Cypriot politics and explore the runners and riders in this race. Follow us on Twitter @Ballotworld and please do rate and subscribe wherever you're listening. 

This week we're globe hoping, looking at a couple of smaller elections that have occurred recently. We first cover the Monegasque landslide election, where all the country's largest parties united into a single bloc. Then we travel across the Atlantic to explore Ecuador's referendum and local elections. While we're in the region, we catch up with what's been going on in Peru since we last covered it, and reflect on how institutional design played a big role in the country's current crisis. Follow us on twitter @ballotworld and please do rate and subscribe wherever you listen.

We're returning to Czechia, last visited in 2021, to cover the results of the presidential election. Former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš failed in his attempt to seize the country's top job, loosing pretty easily to former general Petr Pavel. We're joined by Dr. Sean Haley of UCL SSEES to break down why Babiš lost so badly and who exactly the man who will be Czechia's next head of state is. Follow us on twitter @ballotworld and please do rate and subscribe wherever you're listening.