The year half the world goes to the polls

Glossary

Elections - When a vote is held to decide who should represent a group of people.

Taiwanese - From Taiwan, an island country in east Asia. China still claims to be the legitimate owner of Taiwan, while the Taiwanese government until recently claimed to be the legitimate government of the whole of China.

Imran Khan - A former international cricketer who became the prime minister of Pakistan in 2018, until April 2022.

Indonesia - A country in south-east Asia, made up of over 17,000 islands.

Narendra Modi - The prime minister of India. He inspires passionate support from many in his country, but his critics regard him as populist, anti-Muslim and authoritarian.

Democracy - A system of government based on the idea of rule by the people.

European Parliament - The EU's law-making body. Its members are directly elected by EU voters every five years.

Apartheid - A system of legally-enshrined racial discrimination and oppression which existed in South Africa from 1948 until the 1990s. It denied non-white South Africans basic human rights.

African National Congress - A South African political party, which has ruled the country since 1994. It was the party of Nelson Mandela.

Volodymyr Zelensky - Zelensky won more than 73% of the vote to become Ukrainian President in April 2019. Incredibly, he once starred in a satirical drama in which his character accidentally wins the Ukrainian presidency.