Uncertainty is the winner and incumbents the losers so far in a year of high-stakes global elections
Voice of America
FILE - A voter fills out a ballot paper during general elections in Nkandla, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa, May 29, 2024.
Discontented, economically squeezed voters have turned against sitting governments on both right and left during many of the dozens of elections held this year, as global power blocs shift and political certainties crumble.
A woman tea plantation worker plucks tea leaves at an estate in Badulla, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. Tea plantation worker Adaraja Ali Rani leaves her living quarters to pluck tea tips in Spring Valley estate in Badulla, Sri Lanka, Sep. 10, 2024. Muthuthewarkittan Manohari, a tea plantation worker, right, bathes her younger daughter Madubhashini, as her elder daughter Shalani, center, stands at the doorway of their small house in Spring Valley Estate in Badulla, Sri Lanka, Sept. 9, 2024.
Jamaat-e-Islami-backed candidate Sayar Ahmed Reshi addresses an election campaign rally at Kulgam district in south Kashmir, Sept. 13, 2024. Relatives of incarcerated cleric Sarjan Barkati prepare to leave their rental accommodation as they were scheduled to address the public at the Beerwah area of Budgam district in central Kashmir, Sept. 11, 2024. Jammu and Kashmir National conference, or JKNC, candidate Tanvir Sadiq during election rally in Srinagar, Sept. 4, 2024. Peoples Democratic Party candidate Zuhaib Yousuf addressing the public gathering at Lal chowk during a rally, Srinagar, Sept. 10, 2024. Former separatist leader Syed Salim Geelani joined the mainstream political party Peoples Democratic Party, or PDP.