Global elections

Election officials carry sealed electronic voting machines at a counting center in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. India on Tuesday started counting votes from its staggered, six-week election that was seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decade in power and was expected to give him a third term in office. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Modi’s party has comfortable lead over main rival in early vote counting from India’s election

India was counting more than 640 million votes cast over the past six weeks in the world’s largest democratic exercise, which was widely expected to give Prime Minister Narendra Modi a third five-year term when the final result is declared later Tuesday.

Ruling party presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum greets supporters after the National Electoral Institute announced she held an irreversible lead in the election in Mexico City, early Monday, June 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Mexico’s next president faces 3 pressing challenges: money, dialogue and the US election

Leader of the French far-right National Rally Marine Le Pen, left and lead candidate of the party for the upcoming European election Jordan Bardella attend a political meeting on Sunday, June 2, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

France’s far right may win big in the EU elections. That’s worrying for migrants, Macron and Ukraine

Ruling party presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum greets supporters after the National Electoral Institute announced she held an irreversible lead in the election in Mexico City, early Monday, June 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A scientist, a leftist and a former Mexico City mayor. Who is Claudia Sheinbaum?

FILE- Turkey's Defense Minister Yasar Guler, second left, speaks with members of his delegation during a meeting of the North Atlantic Council in defense ministers session at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024. Turkey's defense minister says plans by U.S.-backed Kurdish groups to hold local elections in northern Syria are “unacceptable" and a threat to Turkey's national security. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)

Turkey’s defense minister says planned elections by Syrian Kurdish groups are ‘unacceptable’

Ruling party presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum greets supporters after the National Electoral Institute announced she held an irreversible lead in the election in Mexico City, early Monday, June 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A scientist, a leftist and a former Mexico City mayor. Who is Claudia Sheinbaum?

INDIA VOTES

Haji Abdul Subhan, left, and Santosh Kumar Aggarwal, top, travel in a non air-conditioned sleeper compartment of the Thirukkural Express, India, Saturday, April 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Haji Abdul Subhan, left, and Santosh Kumar Aggarwal, top, travel in a non air-conditioned sleeper compartment of the Thirukkural Express, India, Saturday, April 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Indian voters dissect Modi’s politics while traversing the country by train

The AP rode one of the longest trains in India — 1,800 miles from New Delhi to Kanyakumari — to interview voters about an election that will be decided in June.

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Climate change impacts millions in India. But as the country votes, some politicians skirt the issue

Modi’s Hindu nationalist politics face a test as India holds fifth stage of national election

Why voters in southern India are more resistant to Modi’s Hindu-centric politics

Once a fringe Indian ideology, Hindu nationalism is now mainstream, thanks to Modi’s decade in power

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Farmer Eduard Van Overstraeten joins the Flemish Interest party and other farmers protesting changes in farming policy in Beersel, Belgium, Friday, May 31, 2024. Like other populist and hard right parties, the Flemish Interest Party has reached out to farmers ahead of the European Union parliamentary elections of June 6-9. Farming has turned out to be a pivotal election issue dividing right from left across the EU nations. (AP Photo/Raf Casert)

Tractors rumble in streets again ahead of EU polls. Farming is a big issue and the far right pounces

Tractors are rumbling through the streets again days ahead of the four-day European Union elections.

A vandalized pre-election billboard shows Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, center, with associates after a local election in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, June 2, 2024. Tensions soared during Serbia's municipal elections Sunday in key cities and towns as ruling populists sought to cement their already vast hold on power in the Balkan country that is a candidate nation for European Union membership. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

International monitor notes some irregularities during Serbia’s rerun of municipal election

An international observer says Serbia’s rerun of a troubled municipal election in the capital was marked by misuse of public resources and ruling party dominance but overall was well-run.

Nigel Farage speaks during a press conference to announce that he will become the new leader of Reform UK and that he will stand as the parliamentary candidate for Clacton, Essex, at The Glaziers Hall in London, Monday June 3, 2024. while on the General Election campaign trail. (Yui Mok/PA via AP)

Populist campaigner Nigel Farage makes an about-face and says he will run in the UK election

Pro-Brexit, anti-immigration campaigner Nigel Farage is returning to front-line British politics. He announced Monday that he will take the helm of the right-wing party Reform U.K. and run for Parliament in the July 4 election.

A supporter of ruling party presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum holds a flag that reads in Spanish "we won" after general elections at the Zocalo, Mexico City's main square, Sunday, June 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Market jitters follow election of first woman as Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum

Mexico’s first female president held out an olive branch to the more than one-third of Mexicans who didn’t vote for her, but she faces a market meltdown and a tough path toward reconciling a country left deeply divided by outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Iran's hard-line parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf waves to the media while registering his name as candidate for the June 28 presidential election at the Interior Ministry, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, June 3, 2024. Monday marked the last day of registration for the competition. Other politicians have been rumored as potential candidates in the vote to replace Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash with seven others on May 19. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iran’s hard-line parliament speaker emerges as the theocracy’s top figure in the presidential vote

Iran’s hard-line parliament speaker has registered for the country’s June 28 presidential election. Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf is the most-prominent candidate from within its Shiite theocracy in the race to replace the late Ebrahim Raisi after a helicopter crash that killed him and seven others.

FILE- A polling official puts indelible ink mark on the index finger of 89-year-old Rubi Paul, after she cast her vote at her residence using postal ballot, in Guwahati, India, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

The world’s largest elections come to a close in India

New Delhi (AP) — The 6-week-long election in India closed on Saturday. The world’s largest election could also be one of its most consequential.

People stand in queues to cast their votes at a polling station during the last round of a six-week-long national election in Varanasi, India, Saturday, June 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

India’s election concludes with the votes being counted Tuesday. Here’s what to know

The world’s largest election could also be one of its most consequential. India’s general election pits avowed Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi against a broad opposition alliance that is struggling to play catch up.

Guests and delegates use their phone at the formal announcement Sunday, June 2, 2024 of the results in South Africa's general elections at the National Results Operations Center in Johannesburg, South Africa. Humbled by a stinging election result, South Africa's African National Congress was talking to everyone in an effort to form a stable coalition government for Africa's most advanced economy after it lost its 30-year majority. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

A guide to what’s next for South Africa and the key figures in unprecedented coalition talks

South Africa’s election has decided little, other than the African National Congress that liberated the country from apartheid in 1994 has lost its 30-year majority.

Iceland elects businesswoman Halla Tomasdottir as president

Iceland’s national broadcasting service says Halla Tomasdottir, a businesswoman and investor, has won Iceland’s presidential election, topping a crowded field of candidates in which the top three finishers were women.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, center, arrives at the National Results Operations Center during the announcement of the results in South Africa's general elections, in Johannesburg, South Africa on Sunday, June 2, 2024. Humbled by a stinging election result, South Africa's African National Congress was talking to everyone in an effort to form a stable coalition government for Africa's most advanced economy after it lost its 30-year majority. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

South Africa’s president urges parties to find common ground in talks after election deadlock

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for his country’s political parties to overcome their differences and find “common ground” to form the first national coalition government in its young democracy.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic speaks at his party's headquarters during local elections in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, June 2, 2024. Tensions soared during Serbia's municipal elections Sunday in key cities and towns as ruling populists sought to cement their already vast hold on power in the Balkan country that is a candidate nation for European Union membership. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Ruling populists declare victory in Serbia local vote despite opposition claims of irregularities

Serbia’s governing populists have declared victory at tense municipal elections in dozens of cities and towns throughout the Balkan country, including a rerun vote in the capital, Belgrade, as opposition are claiming major irregularities.

Iran's hard-line former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad waves to the media as he leaves at the conclusion of a press briefing beside portraits of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, top right, and the late President Ebrahim Raisi after registering his name as a candidate for the June 28 presidential election at the Interior Ministry, in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 2, 2024. Ahmadinejad registered Sunday as a possible candidate for the presidential election, seeking to regain the country's top political position after a helicopter crash killed the nation's president. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iran’s hard-line former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad registers for June 28 presidential election

Iran’s hard-line former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has registered as a possible candidate for the June 28 presidential election, seeking to regain the country’s top political position after a helicopter crash killed the nation’s president and seven others.

Ruling party presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum arrives to vote in general elections in Mexico City, Sunday, June 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Mexico elects Claudia Sheinbaum as its first female president

Mexico’s projected election winner Claudia Sheinbaum will become the first female president in the country’s 200-year history.

A man cycles past an Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) poster with the face of its leader Julius Malema, in Benoni, east of Johannesburg, South Africa, Monday, May 27, 2024. South Africans who received special permission to vote early were casting their ballots on Monday, ahead of main elections on Wednesday, May, 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

After South Africa’s historic election, what now for its global role on issues like the war in Gaza?

It was a historic day for South Africa. The political party that ended the racially divisive era of apartheid and sent global hopes soaring with a vibrant new democracy has lost its three-decade grip on power.

Former president and now leader of the MK Party, Jacob Zuma, speaks at the Results Operation Centre (ROC) in Midrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, June 1, 2024. The African National Congress party has lost its parliamentary majority in a historic election result that puts South Africa on a new political path for the first time since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule 30 years ago. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Former South Africa leader Zuma threatens legal action over allegations of election irregularities

Former South African President Jacob Zuma is threatening legal action to stop the announcement of the country’s election results scheduled for Sunday.

People march during a rally in support of Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his party in Budapest, Hungary on Saturday, June 1, 2024. Orbán, whose 14 years in power make him the European Union's longest serving leader, has focused his campaign for the June 9 European Parliament elections on the war in Ukraine, portraying his domestic and international opponents as warmongers who seek to involve Hungary directly in the conflict. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

Orbán stages a ‘peace march’ in Hungary in a show of strength before European Parliament election

A crowd of tens of thousands has gathered in Hungary’s capital in a show of strength behind Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

FILE - Iceland's Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir speaks with the media as she arrives for an EU Summit in Brussels, on March 22, 2024. Voters in Iceland are choosing a president on Saturday, June 1, 2024 selecting from a field of 12 men and women, including former prime minister Jakobsdottir. Jakobsdottir resigned as prime minister earlier this year to run for president. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)

Voters in Iceland are picking the new president of the rugged island near the Arctic Circle

Voters in Iceland are choosing a president and selecting from a field of 12 people including a former prime minister.

The latest election results are displayed at the Results Operation Centre (ROC) in Midrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday May 31, 2024. South Africa is heading closer to the reality of a national coalition government for the first time as partial election results put the ruling African Nation Congress (ANC), short of a majority. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

The ANC party that freed South Africa from apartheid loses its 30-year majority in landmark election

The African National Congress party has lost its parliamentary majority in a historic election result that puts South Africa on a new political path for the first time since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule 30 years ago.

FILE - Ruling party presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum, center left, greets supporters at a campaign rally, flanked by mayoral candidate Clara Brugada and Morena party president Mario Delgado, in Mexico City, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

Sexist tropes and misinformation swirl online as Mexico prepares to elect its first female leader

As voters in Mexico head to the polls, a flurry of false, sexist and misleading posts on social media are blurring the lines between fact and fiction.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni delivers her speech during at an electoral rally ahead of the EU parliamentary elections that will take place in Italy on 8 and 9 June, in Rome, Saturday, June 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

European vote could tip the balance on Meloni’s far-right agenda in Italy

While Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni adopts a reassuring Western-allied foreign policy, cultural wars at home are preserving her far-right credentials heading into European parliamentary elections.

Polling officials check and seal an electronic voting machine before they allow voters to cast their votes at a polling station during the last round of a six week-long national election near Dharamshala, India, Saturday, June 1, 2024. The seventh round of voting in 57 constituencies across seven states and one union territory will complete polling for all 543 seats in the powerful lower house of parliament. Nearly 970 million voters more than 10% of the world's population were eligible to elect a new parliament for five years. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)

Voting ends in the last round of India’s election, a referendum on Modi’s decade in power

India’s 6-week-long national election came to an end Saturday with most exit polls projecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to extend his decade in power with a third consecutive term.

Relatives and friends carry the coffin that contain the remains of man slain in a mass shooting, during a funeral procession in Huitzilac, Mexico, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. The shooting in the mountain township beset by crime just south of Mexico City resulted in several deaths, authorities said Sunday. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Mexico’s drug cartels and gangs appear to be playing a wider role in Sunday’s elections than before

Mexico’s drug cartels and gangs appear to be playing a wider role in Sunday’s elections that will determine the presidency, nine governorships and about 19,000 mayorships and other local posts.

FILE - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, left, Jan Grabiec, chief of staff, center, and newly appointed Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski, arrive at the Prime Minister's office in Warsaw, Poland, on Dec. 13, 2023. A fake news report on Poland's national news agency saying that Tusk was mobilizing 200,000 men starting on July 1 was probably the work of Russia-sponsored hackers and was designed to interfere with the upcoming European Parliament election, authorities said. “Everything indicates that we are dealing with a cyberattack directed from the Russian side," said Krzysztof Gawkowski." (AP Photo/Michal Dyjuk, File)

Poland says a fake news report on mobilizing 200,000 men was likely the work of Russia

Officials in Poland say that a fake news report saying that Prime Minister Donald Tusk was mobilizing 200,000 men starting on July 1 was probably the work of Russia-sponsored hackers and was designed to interfere with the upcoming European Parliament election.

FILE - Then-Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott addresses anti-Brexit supporters in London, on Oct. 19, 2019. The U.K.'s first Black female member of parliament will be allowed to stand for the Labour Party in the upcoming general election, leader Keir Starmer said Friday May 31, 2024 following a fractious few days over her political future. Starmer told reporters that Diane Abbott, who has been a Labour lawmaker since 1987, is “free” to stand as a Labour candidate in the election on July 4. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)

UK’s first Black female lawmaker ‘free’ to stand for Labour at election after row over her future

The U.K.’s first Black female member of Parliament will be allowed to stand for the Labour Party in the upcoming general election, leader Keir Starmer says, following a fractious few days over her political future.

Results are displayed at the Results Operation Centre (ROC) in Midland, Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday May 31, 2024. South Africa is heading closer to the reality of a national coalition government for the first time as partial election results put the ruling African Nation Congress, fourth from top left, well short of a majority. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

South Africa heads for ‘coalition country’ as partial election results put ruling ANC well below 50%

South Africa is heading closer to the reality of a national coalition government for the first time as partial election results put the ruling African Nation Congress well short of a majority.

A man walks in front of a pre-election billboard showing Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, right, and Belgrade mayor candidate Aleksandar Sapic in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, May 29, 2024, ahead of the municipal vote set for June 2. Voters in Serbia go to the polls this weekend in a municipal election for dozens of cities and towns, including a rerun vote in the capital Belgrade where ruling populists were accused of a fraud at a previous vote in December. The right-wing Serbian Progressive Party of President Aleksandar Vucic is seen as a favorite ahead of the Sunday balloting which could further secure the strongman's already vast hold on power. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Serbs will head to the polls again after fraud reports led to tensions during a December ballot

Voters in Serbia will go to the polls this weekend in a municipal election in dozens of cities and towns, including a rerun vote in the capital of Belgrade where ruling populists were accused of a fraud at a previous vote in December.

Former Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani speaks with media after registering his name as a candidate for the June 28 presidential elections at the Interior Ministry in Tehran, Iran, Friday, May 31, 2024. Larijani registered Friday as a possible candidate in the Islamic Republic's presidential election to replace the late Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash earlier this month with seven others. (AP Photo)

Former Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani registers as a possible presidential candidate

A former speaker of Iran’s parliament has registered as a possible candidate in the Islamic Republic’s June 28 presidential election to replace the late Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash earlier this month with seven others.

FILE - A Mumbai Monorail train moves past a slum area during a trial run between Wadala and Chembur in Mumbai, India, on Jan. 30, 2014. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade, File)

Modi touts India’s roaring economy as he seeks reelection, but many feel left behind

Narendra Modi swept to power a decade ago on promises to transform India’s economy, and as he seeks a third term as prime minister, it would be hard to argue he hasn’t made strides.

FILE - A person holds a sign with a message that reads in Spanish: "We are all the same Mexico", at an opposition rally called to encourage voting in the upcoming election, in the Zocalo, Mexico City's main square, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme, File)

AP PHOTOS: Mexicans choose between continuity and change in election overshadowed by violence

When Mexicans go to the polls on June 2, they will do so in an increasingly polarized country that continues to struggle with staggering levels of violence across large swathes of territory.

FILE - A European flag waves in front of the Reichstag building with the inscription 'Dem deutschen Volke' ('To The German People') in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012. German politics are in a disgruntled, volatile state as the country's voters prepare to fill 96 of the 720 seats at the European Parliament on June 9, the biggest single national contingent in the 27-nation European Union. It's the first nationwide vote since center-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz took power in late 2021. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

European election tests an unpopular government and a scandal-hit far-right party in Germany

An unpopular government with a reputation for constant infighting. An economy stuck in a rut. A strong far-right party that has been embarrassed by its leading candidate and alienated its European allies.