The year 2020 started already started off with elections in countries like Peru, Taiwan, and Greece, which has just elected its first female president. During the course of the year, citizens of different countries across the world will vote in either presidential or parliamentary elections and here we have gathered some of the most anticipated ones to watch:
United States
The most anticipated election of 2020 is the United States general elections. Presidential, legislative and state elections are scheduled for November 2020. The office of the president, one-third of the Senate and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives will be contested. This is the election that will have Trump removed or retained in office.
New Zealand
In September 2020, New Zealanders will elect 120 members to the House of Representatives under a mixed-member proportional electoral system. Referendums on marijuana legalization and euthanasia are also underway. New Zealand is one of the few countries in the world with a female Prime Minister.
Republic of Korea
On April 15 2020, South Koreans will cast their votes for the 253 seats elected in the national assembly. The elections will be done under a first-past-the-post system where 47 constituencies will be voted from proportional party lists.
Ethiopia
Parliamentary elections in Ethiopia are currently planned for May. This will be the first poll since reformist Prime Minister and Nobel Prize Winner, Abiy Ahmed, took office in 2018. Five Hundred and Forty-Seven seats in the House of People’s Representatives are being contested for five-year terms. The elections will take place under the new election law, adopted in August 2019.
Iran
On 21 February 2020, Iran will hold legislative elections to elect the 290-seat Islamic Consultative Assembly. The Assembly has 285 directly elected members and five seats reserved for other religious minorities. The 285 directly elected seats are elected from 196 constituencies, which are a mix of single and multi-member members. This is a sensitive time in Iran’s politics following the attacks on its country by the US at the beginning of the year. While Iran has a history of high election turnouts, observers say they expect a reduced turnout this time.
Isreal
Legislative elections for the Knesset will hold on March 2, 2020 as the Blue and White party leads against Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party in polls. This is the third election since the polls in April and September 2019 that left both incumbent PM Netanyahu and opposition Benny Gantz unable to win a 61-seat majority.
Egypt
Parliamentary elections are scheduled to hold in Egypt in November 2020. The elections were initially expected to be held in April or May 2020, however, this was not the date announced by the country’s electoral commission. Amendments to the constitution approved in a 2019 referendum reinstated an upper house named the Senate, which will consist of 120 elected members and 60 appointed by the president
Togo
On the 22nd of February, presidential elections are scheduled to hold in Togo. Constitutional amendments approved in May 2019 changed the electoral system for the presidency to the two-round system replacing the first-past-the-post-system. The polls will also be the first to be held since presidential term limits were restored in 2019.
Côte D’Ivoire
Presidential elections will be held in the Ivory Coast on the 31 st of October 2020. Incumbent President Alassane Ouattara originally stated he will not seek re-election but, in the last several months, he has stated an intention to seek re-election if his predecessors decide to compete in the 2020 election.
Ghanian General Elections
General elections will be held in December 2020 for the presidential office. Ghana’s main opposition party has already nominated former president John Mahama to challenge the incumbent, President Nana Akufo-Addo. The election will happen under a two-round voting system whilst the 275 members of Parliament will be elected in single-member constituencies using first-past-the-post voting.
Burundi
General elections will be held in Burundi in 2020 and, in a unique twist, the country’s civil servants and other locals are paying the bill. As part of a joint decree from the Finance and Internal Affairs ministries, a portion of government employees salaries have been retained since January 2018 to pay for the election in May 2020. Several analysts look forward to tracking how the country will fare afterwards.
Sudan
Elections are scheduled to hold in Sudan in April 2020. Currently, many unknowns bedevil this election and there are strong suspicions that it may be moved. The country remains in a massive gridlock as its leaders still struggle to create a stable transitional government.
What other elections are you anticipating? Tell us in the comments.
