2016 - a bad year for election nerds

[politicus]

2016 looks rather mediocre election wise  (apart from the US). In Europe Ireland and Croatia will be interesting - if they wait to 2016 - and Slovakia somewhat interesting. Outside: Peru, Taiwan, Phillippines, South Korea and Zambia are interesting, while Thailand and DR Congo could be - if they become real elections and not electoral type events.

January
16 January: Taiwan, President and Congress
TBD: Comoros, President
TBD: Kiribati, President
TBD: Portugal, President

February
by 20 February: Croatia, Parliament
28 February: Benin, President
TBD: Cabo Verde, Parliament
TBD: Samoa, Parliament
TBD: Uganda, President and Parliament
TBD: Iran, Assembly + Council of Experts

March
5 March: Slovakia, Parliament

April
3 April: Ireland, Parliament
8 April: Djibouti, President
28 April: Austria, President
TBD: Chad, President
TBD: Macedonia, Parliament
TBD: Peru, President and Parliament
13. April: South Korea, Parliament

May
9 May: Philippines, General: President, Senate (seats elected in even-numbered years), House of Representatives
15 May: Dominican Republic, President, Parliament and Local Government

June
30 June: Iceland, President

July
TBD: Japan, House of Councillors (one half)

August
TBD: Angola, Parliament (and indirectly President)
TBD: Cabo Verde, President
TBD: Estonia, President (indirect)

September
20 September: Zambia, President and Parliament
TBD: Russia, Parliament

October
Lithuania, Parliament
Montenegro, Parliament
Seychelles, President and Parliament

November
8 November: United States, President, House of Representatives and Senate
TBD: Romania, Parliament

December
7 December: Ghana, President and Parliament
TBD: DR Congo, President and Parliament
TBD: Singapore, General (must be held by 8 January 2017 at the latest)
TBD: Somalia, House of the People

Unknown date

Central African Republic, President
Moldova, President (indirect)
New Zealand, National flag referendum
Thailand, General
Hong Kong, Parliament
Australia, Parliament


Strong possibilities

Netherland, Parliament
Greece, Parliament
Bolivia, Referendum

[politicus]

Sad. I guess we have Scotland and Wales;

Wales is not that interesting to non-Brits. You would need a (miraculous) Plaid breakthrough for that. As it is it is on Slovakia level for me.

[politicus]

Added Ghana and Hong Kong. Ghana might actually be quite interesting.

[politicus]

The Ghanaian election will be on 7 December, not in February.

source?

[politicus]

Is it me or is 2016 incredibly top heavy with elections? Most of the interesting ones are from January to May.

Ghana in December made it less extreme, but it is 8:2 for me (see the bolded ones in the OP) with only two African elections (Zambia and Ghana) in the second half. Then there are the three jokers: Australia, Netherlands and Greece, but Greece will likely be this year - and if in 2016 it will surely be in the first quarter of the year. If you like Eastern European politics you got Romania, Lithuania and Montenegro, but only the last of them is semi-interesting to me. If you do not care about either Africa or Eastern Europe it gets very lopsided.

[politicus]

I guess parliamentary elections in Romania would be really interesting. Close trace, new alliances, and new parties. Romania has a long tradition of open elections for years.

Yeah, it will certainly be competitive. I guess the main reason Romania is not on most posters list of interesting elections is that they consider it a "they are all horrible" election with no one to root for.

[politicus]

The Ghanaian election will be on 7 December, not in February.

source?

Well, the past six presidential elections have been on that date... I mean if you really want a source here's one:

http://www.ipu.org/parline/reports/2123_E.htm

Its always nice to have one when Wikipedia has a different date. That way I can correct it there. Don't take it as an expression of distrust.