Pivotal Elections of 2017

Pivotal Elections of 2017

Supporters of Kenya's opposition presidential candidate Raila Odinga protest in Nairobi.
Supporters of Kenya's opposition presidential candidate Raila Odinga protest in Nairobi. (Luis Tato/AFP/Getty Images)

The past year saw voters around the world shake the status quo and reshape longstanding assumptions in elections across Europe, Asia, and Africa.

December 7, 2017 11:28 am (EST)

Supporters of Kenya's opposition presidential candidate Raila Odinga protest in Nairobi.
Supporters of Kenya's opposition presidential candidate Raila Odinga protest in Nairobi. (Luis Tato/AFP/Getty Images)
Article
Current political and economic issues succinctly explained.

More on:

Elections and Voting

2017

Referendums

Sub-Saharan Africa

Europe

2017 saw a wave of consequential elections around the world, as citizens voted to change their country’s course or express their displeasure. Across Europe, mainstream parties faltered as formerly fringe political forces gained strength. In Hong Kong and South Korea, citizens took to the streets to protest corruption and ruling elites, while Kenya’s chaotic elections contrasted with Angola’s smooth transition from a decades-long regime. And separatist movements in Spain and Iraq used referenda to press their claims to independence. This slideshow recaps the eventful year.

More on:

Elections and Voting

2017

Referendums

Sub-Saharan Africa

Europe

Creative Commons
Creative Commons: Some rights reserved.
Close
This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License.
View License Detail
Close

Top Stories on CFR

Iran

The two countries held their first meeting in seven years to discuss Iran’s contentious nuclear program. Here’s what could come next.

Ukraine

Senior U.S. and French officials are meeting in Paris this week as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to negotiate a cease-fire in Ukraine—but the chances of that deal becoming a reality appear increasingly slim.

Cambodia

The legacy of atrocity crimes that took the lives of millions of Cambodians during the communist Khmer Rouge regime, and the need for credible justice for the survivors, led to the creation of a criminal tribunal while mass atrocities continued elsewhere in the world.