Lack of Election Safety Valve Risks Developing World Protest
- Number of national-level races this year is lowest since 1998
- Voters may not wait for ballot box and hold protests instead
Demonstrators chant while waving flags during a protest against impeachment proceedings for Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. Brazil's Vice President Michel Temer has taken a personal swipe at Rousseff for disdaining him and his party, aggravating a political crisis that could culminate in her impeachment.
Photographer: Dado Galdieri/BloombergBad news for voters in the developing world unhappy with the state of affairs: Where are the elections to express their discontent?
Not since 1998, when Asia was in the throes of a financial meltdown, have there been so few trips to the ballot box, data compiled by Bloomberg and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems show. Major elections this year will take place in only five of the 46 countries classified by MSCI as emerging and frontier markets. In 2015, there were more than double that and 2014 was a bumper year with general elections in India.