Voters have been coming to the polls this week in Pakistan. Photo: Haider Noman Ibraheem of Al Jazeera English
 

So far, so phoney for 2024’s bumper year of elections. Senegal blotted its peaceful-handover-of-power copybook, while Pakistan shut down the internet during voting. And here in the Index office, we’re struggling to work out the purpose of Russia’s upcoming presidential elections — a pretence of democracy? An attempt to legitimise Putin in the eyes of the international community? A joke that only Putin understands? Answers on a postcard, please.
 
Let’s stay with Russia for a moment. This week another opposition candidate, Boris Nadezhdin, got too popular for the Kremlin’s comfort. Nadezhdin is no stranger to the Kremlin. He was once an adviser to former (and assassinated) Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, and was also an aide to Sergei Kiriyenko, who leads Russia’s domestic policy.
 
One of Nadezhdin’s key messages: Russia’s war in Ukraine was a mistake and it needs to end. He has also criticised the clampdown on LGBTQ+ campaigners, and wants to do some serious bridge building with Europe and the USA. The Kremlin has now banned Nadezhdin from running, claiming that more than 9,000 of the 100,000 signatures of support he needs are irregular. Yulia Navalnaya, wife of Putin’s jailed opponent Alexei Navalny, was one of the people who signed her support for Nadezhdin. Although his opposition never posed much of a threat to Putin (if it had, he’d probably be in jail), it perhaps offered some vague hope, which incidentally is what his surname means.
 
Russia’s elections are still over a month away, but for Pakistan, this has been the week. The day before the elections, bombs at election offices killed at least 28 people. Islamic State later claimed responsibility. It was a devastating way to begin an election. When the big day came on Thursday, so too did an internet shutdown, which the interior ministry claimed was due to recent terrorism. Mobile calls and data were suspended (although wifi appeared unaffected), which for some people impacted actually finding the polling stations in the first place, or booking a taxi to get there.
 
For those who did make it to the voting booths, there was another hurdle. Anyone who wanted to vote for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI) (established by former cricketer Imran Khan, who was sentenced to at least 14 years in prison last week), had a surprise on the ballot paper. The party was banned from using its usual cricket bat symbol, and candidates instead used a range of different symbols. This, in a country where around 40% of the population cannot read, was an important point.
 
And to Senegal, where this should have been election month, and which is in fact — not. The election has been postponed for another 10 months, and President Macky Sall has had his power extended until that point, after a bill passed through parliament this week. Protests erupted outside, and there were clashes with riot police. Dozens of protesters have been arrested in the following days. Seen as one of the most stable democracies on the continent, this is quite the blow.
 
This is a year that many are calling the “year of elections.” More people than ever before will get to cast their votes. But what does any of that matter if democracy is only surface deep?
 
Katie Dancey-Downs, assistant editor