The ‘super year’ of elections has been super bad for incumbents as voters punish them in droves

Follow AP’s coverage of Donald Trump’s transition back to the White House. “Lots of factors are driving this,” Wike said, “but certainly feelings about the economy and inflation are a big factor.” Since the pandemic hit in 2020, incumbents have been removed from office in 40 of 54 elections in Western democracies, said Steven Levitsky, a political scientist at Harvard University, revealing “a huge incumbent disadvantage.” In Britain, the right-of-center Conservatives suffered their worst result since 1832 in July’s election, which returned the center-left Labour Party to power after 14 years. Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print The results pushed French President Emmanuel Macron to call a parliamentary election in hope of stemming a far-right surge at home. Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will stay in power, but the greater-than-expected loss ended the LDP’s one-sided rule, giving the opposition a chance to achieve policy changes long opposed by the conservatives. Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Other elections in Africa presented a mixed picture, said Alex Vines, director of the African Program at the international affairs think tank Chatham House, partially clouded by countries with authoritarian leaders whose reelections were not in doubt, like Rwanda’s long-serving President Paul Kagame who got 99% of the vote.