We have returned for a special look at the UK's dramatic 2024 election, which saw Labour win a landslide majority on a record low share of the vote and Ed Davey humiliate himself for attention.

Features some unavoidable discussion of Chris' mortgage.

Chris also published this insightful piece, and Jonathan was inspired to rant about FPTP a bit.

In a jam-packed episode we cover the Paraguayan general election, more Chilean constitutional drama and briefly share our thoughts on England’s local elections. There’s continuity, a right-wing surprise and 1000 Tory loses inside, so give it a listen!
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On 2nd April Montenegro held the second round of momentous presidential elections that saw long-term ruler Milo Đukanović leave office. And on the same day Bulgarian held yet another parliamentary election, with the potential for more to come.

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Estonia held elections on 5th March, which saw the Reform party of incumbent PM Kaja Kallas come first with a record 31.2% of the vote. No coalition now looks feasible without Reform, thus extending the party’s dominance over Estonian politics. Issues around security and cost-of-living dominated in the election, in light of Estonia’s prominent support for Ukraine during the war. The elections also made headlines as they were the first elections in the world where more voters cast their ballots online than in person. 

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Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa and among the world’s biggest democracies, held its presidential election on February 25, with 76-year old Bola Tinubu of the incumbent All Progressive Congress being declared the winner with 36% of the vote. The election comes at a time when Nigeria faces multiple issues, including economic challenges. However, news reports indicate that several Nigerian opposition parties have called for a repeat of the election and called the results “heavily doctored and manipulated." To help us make sense of all of this is is Dr. Nkwachukwu Orji of the University of Nigeria.

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On 12th February Cyprus held the second round of one of its most dramatic presidential elections yet. While favourite Nikos Christodoulides had been leading the polls by massive margins in the run-up to the election, he ended up winning a very close contest. To find out why we dig into Cypriot politics and explore the runners and riders in this race.

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This week we're globe hoping, looking at a couple of smaller elections that have occurred recently. We first cover the Monegasque landslide election, where all the country's largest parties united into a single bloc. Then we travel across the Atlantic to explore Ecuador's referendum and local elections. While we're in the region, we catch up with what's been going on in Peru since we last covered it, and reflect on how institutional design played a big role in the country's current crisis.

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We're returning to Czechia, last visited in 2021, to cover the results of the presidential election. Former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš failed in his attempt to seize the country's top job, loosing pretty easily to former general Petr Pavel. We're joined by Dr. Sean Haley of UCL SSEES to break down why Babiš lost so badly and who exactly the man who will be Czechia's next head of state is.

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This week we're tackling that all-important topic of upper houses, or second chambers, with a special focus on the United Kingdom's bizarre House of Lords. How does the House of Lords work, and where does it come from? And what's the best way to design a second chamber? We scour the world's upper houses for the answer. 

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In a quiet period for elections we're taking a look at authoritarian successor parties- the phenomenon where the ruling parties of authoritarian regimes take to electoral politics, and are often quite successful. While this might seem odd at first glance, we break down exactly why people would still want to vote for these parties when they have the choice, and debate whether they're good or bad for democracy.

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Happy new year! This week we're taking a look at the biggest and most exciting elections scheduled for 2023...and some of the ones we're looking forward to because we're massive nerds. We also make foolhardy predictions we can look back on and grimace about at Christmas. 

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Do you like festive recaps of the year, do you like elections? Then this is the podcast for you!  We're taking a look back at the electoral year and discussing what the most significant contests were, which ones caught us by surprise, and what the elections that brought us sadness and joy this year were. Merry Christmas everyone!

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The only conversation anyone's ever had about the Faroe Islands which doesn't make an ancient Egypt joke. Also perhaps the only reporting on the recent Faroese election in the English language, which is a shame because this was a fascinating contest. These were early parliamentary elections, and saw a political comeback for former Prime Minister Aksel V. Johannesen and his Social Democrats. They were called after the governing centre-right coalition collapsed, and saw disputes over  abortion and LGBTQ rights, relations with Russia and inflation. Join us in a journey to the north Atlantic!

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We freely acknowledge Malaysia can be a difficult country for us to keep track of, especially over the last four years which saw dramatic governmental changes mid-term. But no need to worry as we're joined by Dr. Lynette Ong of the University of Toronto to take us through the twists and turns of recent Malaysian politics and what the results of the recent election mean for the country. None of the major coalitions managed to achieve a simple majority in parliament after the election, leading to a period of negotiation between political forces. Anwar Ibrahim, who’s been the leader of the opposition on multiple occasions since 2008, has managed to create an alliance of centre-right and centre-left political parties to become the leader of the ruling coalition.

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In the US midterm elections the red tide of Republican victories singularly failed to materialise, with Republicans making modest gains at best and failing to take the Senate. But why did Democrats perform so well when all the fundamentals were against them? To break this remarkable set of results down, were joined by Prof. Chris Carman of the University of Glasgow, who takes us through how Democrats bucked the trend and what this means for the next 2 years of American politics.

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In Denmark's recent election incumbent PM Mette Frederiksen's left-leaning bloc won a narrow majority in parliament against predictions. Yet it's all change in Denmark's party system, as Frederiksen instead seeks to form a centrist government around her Social Democrats. We break down why ordering the death of some Mink triggered the downfall of a government, but also why the issue of immigration has rendered Denmark's two-bloc politics unsustainable.

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Do you like your good news moderated by terrible news? Then this is the podcast for you! We're going over the second round of the Brazilian presidential elections which saw former president Silva strike a blow fro democracy and environment, but on the other hand we're going to bring you the lowdown on the Israeli legislative elections, which saw the fantastically corrupt Benjamin Netanyahu win a parliamentary majority with the aid of the ultranationalist Religious Zionism.

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On October 2nd Brazil had its first round of presidential elections. Former president Lula got 48.43% of the vote and incumbent Bolsonaro got 43.2% of the vote. Because neither candidate got over 50% of the vote, the country will go to a runoff vote on October 30th. Fair to say that many people around the world, and not only in Brazil, are on the edge of their seats, awaiting the results of the elections. There is so much at stake. Why did Lula not win outright in the first round as some had predicted? What are the themes of the campaign? What are Brazilians talking about? Will Bolsonaro try to discredit the elections if he loses?

To talk about all of this, we are joined by a returning guest, Julia Blunck. Julia was on the show a few months ago when we talked about the biographies of the two main presidential candidates, Lula and Bolsonaro. Julia is a writer, translator, political analyst and, it is safe to say, very funny twitterer. Julia has written some very insightful texts for Prospect Magazine, The Social Review, and The New Statesman.

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