Heatwaves, floods and wildfires pose rising threat to democracy, report finds

Voters outside a flooded polling station in Kinshasa during the Democratic Republic of Congo’s 2018 presidential election. Photograph: Kenny Katombe/Reuters

Democracy is under mounting threat from the climate crisis, with new analysis documenting how elections are increasingly shaped not only by political forces but also by floods, wildfires and extreme weather.

At least 94 elections and referendums across 52 countries have been disrupted by climate-related impacts over the last two decades, researchers found.