Some major elections to watch in 2018
Millions of people in Europe, Asia, Africa and Middle East voted in elections last year, which also saw botched independence referendums in Spain’s Catalonia and Iraqi Kurdistan.
This year will see the return of political oldtimers staging comebacks and incumbents set to dominate the polls in their bids for re-elections. Here are some major elections to watch in 2018.
Russia
President Vladimir Putin, who has been in power for almost 18 years in various roles, will continue his rule over Russia with a six-year term. His approval ratings remain above 80 percent.
His only declared opponent in the March 18 presidential election is Ksenia Sobchak, a telegenic but politically insignificant daughter of his former mentor.
Alexei Navalny, one of Russia’s most prominent opposition leaders, was blocked from standing in the poll because of his conviction for “economic crimes.”
Italy
Italian General Election will hold between March and May. Polls show that the anti-EU 5 Star Movement has built a stable lead over other parties, with support around 28 percent against 24 percent for the Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni’s Democratic Party and 15 percent for Forza Italia.
However, a new election law makes it harder for any party to win an outright majority.
Another familiar face in the race is the former PM Matteo Renzi, who was forced from office in 2016 after a referendum defeat.
Egypt
Egypt’s presidential election would hold in March or April though the country’s National Election Authority (NEA) said the timetable and procedures for the 2018 polls would be announced next Monday, January 8.
President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi took office in mid-2014, a year after he ousted his predecessor, Mohammed Morsi, in a military coup in response to mass protests against Morsi’s one-year rule.
Although he has yet to formally announce his candidacy, Sisi is widely expected to do so and to earn a landslide victory due to the absence of competitive challengers.
Cameroon
The ultimately goal of Cameroon’s opposition is to end the 35-year rule of Paul Biya in the coming Presidential election, due to hold October 2018.
There had been calls for a united opposition front to vote out Biya but opposition remains deeply divided over the choice of a single candidate for the election.
A lawyer and anticorruption crusader Akere Muna is the only opposition figure in Cameroon to have declared his candidature for the polls.
Zimbabwe
The end of Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule was as much the result of infighting within the ruling ZANU-PF.
The army seized power after Mugabe sacked his deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa, the party’s favourite to succeed him, in a bid to smooth a path to the presidency for his wife Grace.
The first big test for the country’s new leader, Mnangagwa will be the July 2018 general elections that some 75 political parties have registered to contest.
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leoneans will go to the polls in March 2018 to elect a new President, Parliament and local councils. Incumbent President Ernest Bai Koroma is barred from running after serving the maximum ten years in office.
Though more than ten parties have already registered for the polls, the two frontrunners for the country’s top job are the current Foreign Minister, Dr Samura Camara of the ruling All People’s Congress (APC) and former junta leader turned politician, Brigadier Julius Maada Bio, running under Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP).
Brazil
It has been a tough few years for Brazil. Dilma Rousseff was impeached in 2016, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was convicted of money laundering in 2017, while incumbent president Michel Temer has been formally accused of racketeering and obstruction of justice.
Lula is trying to stage a political comeback in the October presidential election and he is currently leading in the polls.
Other prominent candidates to keep tabs on include Jair Bolsonaro, who has made law and order his trademark, and Marina Silva, a former Environment Minister under Lula.
Mexico
Presidents are limited to one term in Mexico. That has generated a crowded electoral field in the July 2018 presidential election.
The frontrunner is the former mayor of Mexico City, Andres Manual Lopez Obrador of National Regeneration Movement (MORENA).
The dominant political player for much of the past century, the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party), appears to be tapping his finance minister Jose Antonio Meade for candidate.
The National Action Party is polling well and will field a candidate, while Margarita Zavala wife of former president Felipe Calderon - runs as an independent.
Hungary
Over the past seven years, Hungary has become an “illiberal democracy” under the leadership of Prime Minister Maverick Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz Party.
Orban, who has been a thorn in the side of European Union leaders such as Angela Merkel, is widely expected to be re-elected in the next spring’s election in April or May. Wresting power away from Orbán requires a unified opposition.
Fidesz party’s most serious opposition is farright Jobbik party. But a fine, received for illegal campaigning financing assistance, threatens their withdrawal from the elections.