Ballot to Talk About Sam Rippon and Chern Han Mah

Sam and Chern look back at results from two recent large General Elections in Mexico and India. In Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum is set to become their first female President, but how was she able to oversee such a commanding victory for the governing Morena Party across the board? Was it a failure of opposition, or was it evidence of the popularity of outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador? In India, Narendra Modi’s NDA failed to get the 400 seats they were aiming for and actually fell backwards. Why was it such a polling miss? Why did voters turn away from the BJP? And can Congress/INDIA take credit for a successful campaign? All these questions and more answered in this week’s episode.


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Sam and Chern preview the upcoming UK General Election, focussing on constituencies and campaigns across England and Wales. What are the seats to watch on election night, and where will this election be won and lost? Why have the polls changed so dramatically in the five years since the 2019 General Election? How will Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer feel after the first full week of campaigning? And which Cabinet Ministers could be contenders for 2024’s ‘Portillo Moment’? All these questions and more answered in this week’s episode.


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Sam and Chern break down results from three Spanish autonomous communities that have been to the polls in the first half of 2024: Galicia, Basque and Catalonia. As regionalist parties demonstrate their strength, how will these results affect the federal Sanchez government? Why has Catalonia not elected a pro-independence parliament for the first time in over 40 years? Why did the Socialists perform significantly better in Catalonia than Galicia just 3 months prior? What do these elections tell us about the state of Spanish politics? All these questions and more answered in this week’s episode.


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Sam and Chern look back at results from the recent General Elections in Panama and in North Macedonia. In Panama, José Raúl Mulino has won the presidency but has fallen well short of a majority for his Realizing Goals party in the National Assembly. Why did the opposition do so well, and was it more of a vote against the incumbents? In North Macedonia, will the VMRO and Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova victory stall the EU accession negotiations? Why did the opposition perform so well here too? All these questions and more answered in this week’s episode.


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Sam and Chern dissect the results from the 2024 set of UK local elections in the final electoral test before the expected General Election later this year. The Conservatives suffered almost 500 Council seat losses, and only managed to win one of the mayoralties up for grabs (Tees Valley), so can the party turn it around in the run up to the General Election? As Labour celebrate big wins and a close contest in the West Midlands, can anything stop a Labour majority? And can the Greens and Liberal Democrats convert local successes into seats at Westminster? All these questions and more answered in this week’s episode.


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Sam and Chern look ahead to the mammoth General Election that is already underway in India to elect the 18th Lok Sabha. Narendra Modi looks poised to win a third term as Prime Minister and a third successive majority for his BJP, but what is the key to his enduring electoral appeal? Why has Congress been unable to make any significant inroads into the BJP’s dominance? In which states will this election be won and lost? And is Modi’s 400-seat objective achievable? All these questions and more answered in this week’s episode.


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