The post-2020 search for stability

Choosing the middle road: A voter casting his ballot in Berlin. Since the pandemic began, resistance to extremism has grown steadily with polls in Germany showing weakening support for parties on both extremes and rising support for the centrist Free Democratic Party. — Bloomberg

LAST month, Canada held an election to choose a new House of Commons and Germany held an election to choose a new Bundestag. And at the end of this month, Japan will hold an election to choose a new House of Representatives. Rarely have major elections in G-7 powers taken place this close together.

In August, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a snap election in the hope of strengthening his hand, but results yielded almost no change. Trudeau’s Liberal Party emerged with the most seats, but not a majority, and will form a government from a minority position. The results suggest that Canadians wanted to stick with what they know rather than take a chance on change, particularly with the Covid-19 pandemic still raging. Trudeau has been prime minister since 2015.