By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press
Even in a busy year of elections around the world, the next few days stand out.
Over the next week, voters go to the polls in fledgling democracies like Mauritania and Mongolia, the Islamic Republic of Iran and in stalwart democracies — former imperial powers — Britain and France.
While U.S. President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump were set Thursday to hold the first of two TV debates before their expected November standoff, other countries are facing hard choices.
The votes could reorient the world at a time of war in Europe, the Middle East and Africa; mutual suspicion among some big powers; and growing public anxiety over things like jobs, climate change, taxes, inflation and the rise of AI.
National elections are taking place in more than 50 countries this year. India, Mexico and South Africa ushered in political change or ballot-box surprises. Russia did not.
Here’s a look at the flurry of balloting over the next few days in countries that collectively hold some 225 million people in Europe, Africa and Asia:
IRAN
In Iran on Friday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is looking for a successor for his hard-line protégé, President Ebrahim Raisi, who died last month in a helicopter crash.
Two hard-liners — former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf — are among candidates that include Masoud Pezeshkian, a cardiac surgeon seen as a reformist who has lined up with supporters of relatively moderate former President Hassan Rouhani.
Amid signs of widespread voter apathy, Khamenei has called for maximum turnout and has issued a veiled warning to Pezeshkian and his allies about relying on the U.S.
Iran has faced economic woes in part due to international sanctions after Trump in 2018 shredded Iran’s nuclear accord struck three earlier with world powers. Iran has since ramped up enrichment of uranium and now has enough to be able to produce several nuclear weapons.
The Islamic Republic has sought to position itself as a leader of Muslim-world resentment against the West and Israel, which Iran directly attacked for the first time this year. For years, Iran has backed an array of militant groups, including the Palestinian Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
FRANCE
France wasn’t supposed to be holding national elections this year.
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Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
