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.

On Thursday June 6, hundreds of millions of Europeans will head to the polls for a unique and significant election. Instead of choosing their national governments, voters will elect representatives to the European Parliament in Strasbourg in the world's only popularly elected multinational legislature.

The context of these elections is vastly different from the last European elections in May 2019. Since then, the UK has exited the EU, and the continent has endured the global pandemic. Despite these changes, pressing issues such as migration, climate change, economic uncertainty and the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza continue to dominate European politics.

The choices made by voters will significantly influence the domestic and foreign policies of one of the world's most crucial political and economic blocs.

In this episode of the Year of Elections podcast, host Declan McVeigh delves into the coming elections, with insights from Sunniva Rose, The National’s correspondent in Brussels, and Dubai-based international relations professor Justin Gibbins to explore how these elections are set to unfold, as well as their potential impact on Europe’s future.

India’s general election, the world’s largest, is now a month in, and a fortnight away from its conclusion on June 4. By the time the last ballot is counted, more than half a billion people will have made their voices heard on the country’s future.

The challenge at this stage in the vote has been turnout, as the most recent phase saw only two thirds of eligible voters show up. But while voters may appear a little apathetic, the politicians themselves have a very large presence indeed.

The two main rivals are Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, in power for 10 years, and the India National Development Inclusive Alliance, referred to as INDIA, which comprises 26 parties including the leading opposition party, Indian National Congress.

In the second episode of Year of Elections podcast, focusing on India's polls, host Sulaiman Hakemy gets into the issues at stake, exploring the reasons behind the voter turnout and what the results of the vote might mean for India in the years to come.

He is joined by from New York by Johann Chacko, who is The National’s South Asia columnist, and from Delhi by Aarti Jerath, a veteran journalist and political commentator.

Over the next several weeks, about 970 million people in India will cast their ballots in the world’s largest election.

The country holds general elections every five years to elect members of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament. The winning party – or coalition of parties – will be able to form a government and choose the prime minister.

But it takes a long time to get to that point – this year, the election process will last 44 days. There’s plenty for voters to think about. India has more than 2,500 political parties, although 10 hold 86 per cent of the Lok Sabha’s seats.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been in power for a decade now, and his Bharatiya Janata Party is one of the largest political parties in the world, with more than 180 million members. Recent polls suggest the BJP will win to secure a third term for Mr Modi, but there are some challenges to overcome first.

In this episode of the Year of Elections podcast series, Sulaiman Hakemy, The National's opinion editor, and Taniya Dutta, The National’s correspondent in India, delve into the significance of the country's elections this year and look at how the polling operation is carried out.