Half the world to vote in 2024, with global ramifications

A man casts his ballot at a polling station during Bangladesh's general elections in Dhaka on Jan. 7, 2024. Bangladesh, where Sheikh Hasina won a fifth term as prime minister, kicked off a year in which billions of people will vote in national elections/AFP

LONDON: 2024 will pose a major test of democratic rule as an estimated 4 billion people in more than 50 nations — almost half the world’s population — are set to vote in national elections, with the outcomes likely to shape global politics for years or decades to come.