Climate change

Study: Extreme Weather Disrupted 94 Elections Worldwide

Is climate change a genuine threat to democracy or an alarmist agenda dressed up as science?

Published APR 22

Study: Extreme Weather Disrupted 94 Elections Worldwide

Story

Above: People queue to vote outside improvised polling stations in the southern Turkish city of Antakya on May 14, 2023. Image credit: Can Erok/AFP/Getty Images

The Facts

A report published by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) on Tuesday has found that at least 94 elections and referendums across 52 countries were disrupted by natural hazards over the past two decades.
International IDEA
ABS
NST Online
In 2024, extreme weather disrupted 23 elections in 18 countries, including Brazil, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Senegal, by damaging infrastructure, displacing voters or forcing last-minute changes to electoral processes.
The Straits Times
Guardian
Free Malaysia Today on Instagram
The report examined several case studies, including the impact of Hurricane Sandy on the 2012 U.S. federal election, a 2023 earthquake on Turkey's presidential and parliamentary elections and cyclones on Mozambique's 2019 elections.
The Straits Times
ABS
Daily Mail
At least 10 elections since 2022 have been affected by extreme heat. During the 2025 Philippine general election, some vote-counting machines overheated and ejected previously accepted ballots.
International IDEA
Guardian
INQUIRER.net
The report urged countries to incorporate electoral processes into national climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction plans. It comes after Alberta's provincial legislature in Canada moved its fixed election date from May, during wildfire season, to October, effective 2027.
The Straits Times
Guardian
Global News
Sarah Birch, a professor at King's College London and co-author of the report, said electoral management bodies must "consider alterations to election timelines to reduce the likelihood of disruption by short-lived disasters."
Le Monde
Guardian
NST Online

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Climate-concerned narrative

Climate change is already wrecking elections worldwide — displacing voters, destroying polling places and making it physically dangerous to stand in line on a 110-degree day. Billion-dollar weather disasters now strike every two to three weeks in the U.S. alone, and election officials are nowhere near prepared. Democracy itself is on the line if governments continue to ignore climate risk in electoral planning.

Time

Foreign Affairs

Mike Hudema on X

Climate-skeptic narrative

The climate alarm machine has swapped real data for red-tinted maps and panic-driven buzzwords. Alarmist predictions from the early 2000s never materialized, climate models consistently fail and the loudest advocates often can't explain basic atmospheric science. Dressing up political agendas in this way erodes trust in institutions that should know better.

Dead Man Talking

r/changemyview on Reddit

Peter Clack on X