Opinion

The unknown unknowns of a global year of elections

The electoral choices that Indonesia makes this year should be at least as important to Australians as primary votes in Iowa.

Alexander DownerColumnist

Updated Jan 1, 2024 – 2.22pm, first published at 2.16pm

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This time last year I told readers there wouldn’t be a war over Taiwan in 2023, that the Ukraine war would grind into deadlock and inflationary pressures would start to ease but wouldn’t disappear. And I warned readers to watch out for black swan events. All for the price of The Australian Financial Review!

So what of 2024? There will be more than 70 elections worldwide. Given that several of those elections will be in significant countries and the results are unpredictable, 2024 will be a year of uncertainty.

Alexander Downer was Australia's longest serving foreign minister, from 1996 to 2007, and most recently Australian High Commissioner to the UK.