After the two decades that seem to have passed since the beginning of January, the year is finally coming to an end. The United Nations called 2024 the “super year” of elections — which sounds accurate. It also said that the fact that 3.7 billion voters headed to ballot boxes in 72 countries was synonymous with “strengthening democracy and good governance.” That feels slightly less on the nose.
For those of us in Europe, the super season kicked off with mystery. What on earth is a Spitzenkandidat? Are we really supposed to know who Nicolas Schmit is? Luckily for everyone, it turned out we didn’t need to know either one, as her Royal Highness and Empress of Europe Ursula von der Leyen (actual title, we checked) was confirmed for a second mandate at the helm of the European Commission.
Von der Leyen’s swoop back to power was accompanied by a sharp shift to the right in European politics — sometimes even to the far right. The Commission president has a new bestie in Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s right-wing prime minister. And in June, the European Parliament welcomed newcomers like far-right influencer Alvise Pérez, YouTube sensation Fidias Panayiotou and muzzle enthusiast Diana Șoșoacă. What a team.
Of course, with all of the attention going to a blond woman, Emmanuel Macron had to do something spectacular. Having watched his party go down in flames in the European Parliament election, the French president decided to self-immolate with a snap parliamentary election back home, plunging his country into a political inferno that continues to burn today. No one’s talking about VDL now!
Then the Brits had a go at the democracy thing. Sandwiching their vote between two rounds of French balloting, they decided Keir Starmer, arguably the most boring man in politics, was the guy they needed to shake things up.
Finally, it was America’s turn. As we all know, Donny the Menace came back with a vengeance. Some in Europe are worried that the incoming U.S. president might pull out of NATO, launch a trade war and hand over a chunk of Ukraine to the luckiest Russian ever, Vladimir Putin. But we can all agree to rejoice in one thing. As he told some of his supporters before the election, we’ll never “have to vote again.”
