What the ‘year of democracy’ taught us

A bumper 12 months for elections saw more than a billion people vote in dozens of countries. The results show widespread anger and frustration at incumbents, and growing support for populists on the left and right.

By John Burn-Murdoch · 30 Dec 2024

It was heralded as the year of democracy. With more than one and a half billion ballots cast in elections across 73 countries, 2024 offered a rare opportunity to take the social and political temperature of almost half of the world’s population. The results are now in, and they have delivered a damning verdict on holders of public office.

The incumbent in every one of the 12 developed western countries that held national elections in 2024 lost vote share at the polls, the first time this has ever happened in almost 120 years of modern democracy. In Asia, even the hegemonic governments of India and Japan were not spared the ill wind.

Incumbent or otherwise, centrists were often the losers as voters threw in their lot behind radical parties of either flank. The populist right in particular surged forward, fuelled significantly by a rightward shift among young men.

The results paint a picture of angry electorates stung by record inflation, fed up with economic stagnation, disquieted by rising immigration, and increasingly disillusioned with the system as a whole.

In a sense, the year of democracy produced a cry that democracy is no longer working, with the younger generation, many of them voting for the first time, delivering some of the strongest rebukes against the establishment.