With less than 120 days until millions of Americans cast their ballots to decide their next president, the 2024 election is shaping up to be one of the most consequential in recent history. Amid the campaign trail, pressing questions are being raised about President Joe Biden’s fitness for office and the high-profile legal challenges facing Republican challenger Donald Trump.

For months, the candidates have been neck and neck, promising a nail-biting contest. The outcome of the November 5 election, alongside races for 33 Senate seats and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, will have significant repercussions, not only for the United States but also for its allies and adversaries worldwide.

In this episode of the Year of Elections podcast by The National’s Opinion Desk, host Declan McVeigh is joined by Washington correspondent Ellie Sennett to ask could pivotal foreign policy issues, such as the war in Gaza, influence the results in key battleground states?

It is a political gamble that looks to be going badly wrong for French President Emmanuel Macron. On Sunday, millions of voters went to the polls in the first round of a snap general election called by the French leader after a disastrous showing by his centrist alliance in June’s European Parliament elections.

Opinion polls strongly suggested that France’s main far-right party, the Eurosceptic and anti-immigration National Rally, would perform well, and so it proved in the first round as it emerged as the front-runner with about 34 per cent of the vote.

That result has been a political earthquake for France. For the first time, a party from the hard right is within touching distance of securing an absolute majority in France’s 577-seat National Assembly.

In this episode of the Year of Elections podcast, host Declan McVeigh explores how France got here, and looks at the possible scenarios in the second round of voting on July 7 with The National’s correspondent in Brussels, Sunniva Rose, and French affairs columnist Colin Randall.

The UK's Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour Party leader Keir Starmer have entered the final straight in the race to Downing Street, with voters going to the polls on July 4.

The general election is being fought largely on the issue of the economy. But Mr Sunak’s campaign has been hit by false starts and pitfalls, putting in jeopardy the prospect of his party continuing to govern after 14 years in power.

In this episode of the Year of Elections podcast, host Damien McElroy, London bureau chief at The National, looks at how a change of government could affect the Middle East and analyses how Scottish politics is changing.