RationalWiki:What is going on with the elections?

July 2023
Cambodia's ruling party overwhelmingly wins election, after banning their biggest opposition party from running. Spain's elections end in a hung parliament. The right-wing People's Party won a plurality, but the center-left "Socialists" will likely have an easier path to a coalition, even if it will mean negotiating with regional parties to do so. The ruling Conservative Party loses two parliament by-elections and wins one. Rishi Sunak plans to focus on migrants, crime and transgender rights after this result. Surprising few, RFK Jr.'s campaign is receiving a lot of money from donors who typically give to the GOP. At least two billionaires and several current or former corporate & banking executives stand behind him. [https://archive.is/20230713130345/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/13/world/asia/thailand-prime-minister-pita-limjaroenrat.html Thailand's military junta with a hold on the senate has blocked the popular progressive candidate who had emerged as the clear winner of the election. Parliament will now have to vote again.] A top Guatemalan party has been barred by the courts, throwing the presidential election and Guatemala's democracy status into the unknown.

June 2023
Julius Maada Bio sworn in as opposition cries foul. The far right AFD wins their first local governing post, in the Thuringian district of Sonneberg. The Thuringian AFD and its leader Bernd Björn Höcke are known to be particulary extremist. Francis X. Suarez has become the third Floridian to run for president in 2024. Chris Christie enters the 2024 race SCOTUS rules that Alabama's congressional map is an illegal racial gerrymander. The 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries DLC characters keep on comin': Governor of North Dakota Doug Burgum is running for President. Cornel West has announced he's running for president in 2024... for the. The People's Party is an insane, bigoted, pro-Russia third party. Its only achievements currently are: 1) giving Bernie Sanders a petition to join the party, which he ignored, 2) announcing that they'd run "a dozen or more" candidates in the 2022 midterm elections, then ran zero, and 3) have their leader be credibly accused of sexual harassment, who then purged board members who sided with accuser. Curiously, West is also sat on the board of a pro-DeSantis company that supports and benefits from DeSantis' policies, alongside Christopher Rufo and the president of the Heritage Foundation.  Mike Pence is officially running in the 2024 presidential race.

May 2023
Edgars Rinkēvičs is elected as president of Latvia, making him the first openly-gay president of a post-Soviet country. Spain’s conservative opposition trounces Socialists in key local and regional elections. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced general elections will be held on July 23, 2023 Recep Erdoğan wins re-election as Turkey’s President. Pastor charged with four counts of child cruelty announces bid for Louisiana House. Ron DeSantis announces his bid to run for President of the United States in 2024. Greece's center-right wins biggest election victory in half a century Turkey election heads to a runoff between Erdoğan and Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. The far-right BJP loses its majority in the Indian state of Karnataka. Thailand opposition crushes military parties in election rout Chile’s far-right party wins most seats on constitutional rewrite committee Biden's current plan to get re-elected: oppose GOP book bans, support abortion rights, and defend Social Security. The fact that these stances poll very well seems to be the main reason why they were selected as a primary focus. Those who have watched voter priorities polling should know that he will need a broader economic message too, however. Turkey's elections take place on May 14. Erdoğan and crew remain in political danger, so they've decided they need to get more homophobic. Conservatives trounced by Labour, LibDems and Greens in England's local elections. UKIP lost every seat it held. BBC source. Conservative Santiago Peña, from the Colorado Party, elected in Paraguay. The Colorado Party, which has ruled the country for all but five of the last 75 years (including the dictatorship under Alfredo Stroessner), and right-wing party candidates were also performing strongly in congressional elections and governorships, with some provinces recording a historic Colorado majority over opposition rivals.

April 2023
North Carolina's supreme court overturns its previous anti-gerrymandering decision. Get prepared for North Carolina to become the new Wisconsin. Bernie Sanders says he won’t run for the Democratic nomination in 2024, endorses Biden instead. Poll: GOP presidential primary voters say that fighting 'woke' ideology is more important than stopping cuts to Social Security (and Medicare!). Joe Biden announces he’s running for re-election in 2024. Larry Elder enters 2024 presidential race. DeSantis "isn't running" yet. But his support is collapsing. Trump holds a polling advantage. One DeSantis megadonor is literally dead. Others are getting cold feet. Another has pulled funding, citing his social extremism. Meantime, team Ron plan to copy Rudy Giuliani's 2008 "strategy". All in all, the GOP's most likely shot at a non-Trump nominee is not looking so likely. (But don't count him out yet?) Democratic presidential primary candidate Marianne Williamson gains a following with young people, including on TikTok. The Intercept calls her a fusion of "Bernie Sanders and (early) Jordan Peterson". They also report: "A recent poll found Williamson hovering above 20 percent with voters under 30". Joe Exotic, who is currently serving time in prison for attempting to hire an assassin to kill a woman who started a non-profit, and who is also running for president, has switched parties from Libertarian to Democrat. He's now running as a Democrat. Yay. The liberal coalition, led by Prime Minister Xavier Espot, has won the absolute majority of seats in the General Council in the 2023 Andorra parliamentary election. King of the anti-vaxxers, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., files paperwork to run for president as a Democrat. Update: he was apparently drafted by Steve Bannon. Asa Hutchinson enters the 2024 Presidential race, competing with Republicans Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, and Vivek Ramaswamy (real name), and Democrat Marianne Williamson. Jakov Milatović defeats Milo Đukanović in the Montenegro election. Milatović says: “Within the next five years, we will lead Montenegro into the European Union”. Progressive Brandon Johnson wins the Chicago mayoral election, defeating police union-backed DINO Paul Vallas. Liberal Janet Protasiewicz wins election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, giving liberals their first majority there in 15 years. Finland's center-right party claims win amid tight election

March 2023
Kazakhstan's ruling party Amanat wins the legislative election by 54%. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan trails the opposition by more than 10 points ahead of an election in Turkey in May. Xi Jinping "reelected" for a third term. In the Estonian parliamentary election, the Reform Party, led by Kaja Kallas, has won the most seats in the Riigikogu. Bola Tinubu of the ruling APC wins a disputed election. The opposing PPD and Labour Party have claimed the votes were doctored, and the election was marred with violence and technical issues.

February 2023
Lori Lightfoot is ousted as the mayor of Chicago. A run-off election will occur between Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson. Republican presidential primary candidates must agree to a "loyalty pledge" promising to support whoever wins the nomination in order to debate, the party's National Committee chair says. Can anyone guess who this is aimed at? Liberal Janet Protasiewicz and conservative election denier Daniel Kelly advance in the primary for an open seat in the Wisconsin Supreme Court. This election will decide which side has a majority in the chamber, which will have huge implications on issues such as gerrymandering and abortion rights. California dinosaur Senator Dianne Feinstein announces that she will not run for reelection, opening the door for what will likely be the most intense Senate primary of the cycle. Among those running to replace her are Reps. Adam Schiff and Katie Porter. Nikki Haley announces she's running for President, making her the first Republican challenger to Trump. The PA State House has now officially flipped blue, after Democrats win three special elections in safe-blue Pittsburgh-area seats in order to replace Representative Summer Lee, Lt. Governor Austin Davis, and the late Tony DeLuca. Previously, there had been a bit of drama to get a speaker, as the three vacancies meant neither side had a majority.

January 2023
Former army general and independent politician Petr Pavel has won the Czech presidential election against his rival, populist former prime minister Andrej Babiš. He will replace the current president Miloš Zeman in March, who has been criticised for pandering to dictators like Putin, and politicking the largely ceremonial role. Popular Democratic Arizona representative Ruben Gallego will challenge Independent Kyrsten Sinema for her US Senate seat. Democrat Aaron Rouse flips a Virginia State Senate seat in Virginia Beach during a special election, expanding Democrats' Senate majority in the state to 22-18. This comes as Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin is trying to pass a 15-week abortion ban. South Carolina's House map ruled an unconstitutional racial gerrymander by a federal court. This is because of how black voters from Charleston were packed into the 6th district in order to make the 1st district safe for Republicans (comparison of both maps here). Of course, the result is likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court. The GOP-controlled House is off to a great start as Kevin McCarthy has failed fourteen votes for Speaker, leaving the legislature in limbo. Here's why 21 Republicans are refusing to support him. For those wondering, the last time the House failed to elect a Speaker was in 1923, almost exactly 100 years ago. Update: McCarthy has officially been elected as Speaker of the House on the 15th vote.