This entry includes data on changes to ministerial portfolios, party leadership changes and parliamentary composition (gender and party) in 2021. It notes changes to the Australian Electoral Act and the distribution of electoral seats federally. It includes election results from two subnational elections. It discusses a landmark report into the culture of the Australian Parliament, with specific reference to the relationship between political advisors and politicians, gender, bullying, and sexual assault. The entry notes the political decline of the ruling coalition government lead by Scott Morrison, and some, but not all, reasons for this. Policy issues discussed include women in politics, COVID-19, climate change, the AUKUS security pact, the budget deficit and inequality.

This entry includes data on changes in national government composition, party leadership changes and parliamentary composition in Austria in 2021, as well as election results from a subnational election. It covers the Austrian coalition government between the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the Greens, led by Sebastian Kurz, in the second year of handling the Covid-19 pandemic. Judicial and parliamentary investigations of politicians and Cabinet officials from the Austrian People's Party, including Federal Chancellor and ÖVP party leader Kurz, resulted in the latter's retreat from politics. Over the course of the year, the federal government was led by three different Federal Chancellors from the ÖVP.

The year 2021 was the first full year for the De Croo I Cabinet, which had been installed in October 2020 after difficult and lengthy negotiations. The oversized and ideologically diverse ‘Vivaldi’ coalition government struggled as it was confronted with the management of the COVID-19 pandemic, amidst frequent tensions between the coalition partners, with the two largest Flemish parties (Flemish Interest/Vlaams Belang and New Flemish Alliance/Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie) shooting from the opposition. Further, usual disagreements continued to prevail between Flemish and Francophone parties and their respective executives at the subnational level. Hence, discussions on the contours of a – still very tentative – seventh state reform did not make much progress. Wallonia, the country's southern region, was hit by catastrophic floods in July. The whole public response to these floods added up to the massive costs of handling COVID-19, which resulted in a structurally large budget deficit.

L'année 2021 fut la première année complète pour le gouvernement De Croo I entré en fonction en octobre 2020 au terme de longues et difficiles négociations. La coalition ‘Vivaldi’, très large et idéologiquement diversifiée, rencontra bien des difficultés dans sa gestion de la pandémie COVID-19; cette dernière suscita de fréquentes tensions entre les partenaires de la coalition alors que les deux plus grands partis flamands (le VB et la N-VA) menaient une opposition active. Par ailleurs, les désaccords habituels se prolongèrent entre les partis flamands et francophones et leurs exécutifs respectifs à l’échelon subnational. Dans ces conditions, les discussions autour d'une septième réforme de l'Etat aux contours encore très vagues ne progressèrent guère. La Wallonie, la région du Sud du pays, fut frappée par des inondations catastrophiques en juillet. La réponse des autorités publiques à ces inondations, conjuguée aux coûts très élevés de la gestion COVID-19, se traduisit par un déficit budgétaire structurellement élevé.

2021 was a turbulent political year in Bulgaria. Event-wise, it saw three rounds of legislative elections, one presidential election, two caretaker cabinets and a lot of institutional struggles. In terms of results, 2021 saw the end of Citizens for a European Development of Bulgaria/Grazhdani za evropeysko razvitie na Bulgaria (GERB) dominance in political life, challenges to the links between the state and economic strongmen established during its government, and a new, reform-minded, coalition Cabinet taking power. New parties made an entrance on the legislative scene: There Is Such a People/Ima takuv narod (ITN) led by Slavi Trifonov won one election (July) and then lost the next one (November), when a brand new party We Continue the Change/Prodalzhavame promyanata (PP) won a plurality of votes. Another surprising outcome was the acceptance of the Bulgarian Socialists/BSP za Balgariya (BSP) as a legitimate coalition partner after July 2021. The year also saw an inconsistent pattern of anti-Covid-19 policies, low vaccination and high death rates.

Canadian politics in 2021 was far from boring. A federal election that resulted in very few changes, the resignation of the Governor General, the appointment of the first Indigenous Governor General, scandals in the military, the resolution of a dispute with the Chinese government, and ongoing issues relating to the COVID-19 pandemic attracted substantial attention. But more striking was the discovery of unmarked graves on the site of former residential schools, a discovery challenging the views many Canadians had of their history and revealing the extent of work remaining to be done with respect to Indigenous issues and the continuing need for both truth and reconciliation.

Croatian politics experienced relative calm in 2021. The minority Plenković II Cabinet saw no changes and survived motions against two of its ministers. Parliament experienced some turmoil, as intra-party conflict among the Social Democrats resulted in a split of its parliamentary group and a sharp increase in the overall number of independent MPs. In May and June, elections at the county and local levels were held, with the biggest changes occurring in the two largest cities, Zagreb and Split. The mayoral office and the city council of Zagreb were won by Možemo!, a green-left party, while Split received a mayor from the ranks of a centrist-liberal party Pametno.

The year 2021 was marked by the continuation of the standstill in attempts to overcome the division of the island, as well as the social, political and economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on both sides of the divide. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continued to suffer from political and economic instability. After only one year in office, the ruling coalition collapsed in November. Parliamentary elections in the Greek Cypriot-dominated Republic of Cyprus led to massive losses of the three largest parties, which, however, did not translate in a large-scale loss of seats. Moreover, in June there was a small-scale reshuffling of the Cabinet in the Republic of Cyprus.

Several important events occurred in Czech politics in 2021. The cabinet of Prime Minister Babiš primarily focused on tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. Four cabinet changes were made, two affecting the Health Minister and two affecting the Foreign Minister. The Constitutional Court repealed several sections of the electoral law governing the general election, leaving only a few months to pass a new electoral law before the next general election. In the October 2021 election, the SPOLU electoral alliance won the popular vote, while the governing party ANO gained the most seats under the new electoral law. The election was a disaster for left-wing parties, as Social Democrats and the Communists gained no seats in the lower house. A new coalition government, led by political science professor Petr Fiala, was formed at the end of 2021. President Zeman was hospitalised for several weeks, casting doubts about whether he was able to fulfil his presidential duties.

Covid-19 restrictions were lifted in 2021, leaving more room for policy initiatives from the government, which were delivered throughout the year on, for example, climate, housing, transport and decentralization. Regional/municipal elections showed that the Danish party system was still characterized by a stable core, even though some change happened. Prominent members of parliament have left the Liberals. New parties are eligible to stand for election, and a total of 12 parties are represented in Parliament, with one to two more eligible to stand for an election that was to be held June 2023 at the latest. Most interestingly, former Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen broke with the Liberals, his party of 40 years, and formed a new party, the Moderates. The Danish People's Party saw more internal disagreement, electoral decline and a new party chair.

There was one government change and two elections in Estonia in 2021. In January, the Ratas II government, led by the Centre Party and also including the populist Estonian Conservative People's Party and the conservative Fatherland, was replaced by the K. Kallas I government, a coalition of the liberal Reform Party and the Centre Party. Indirect presidential elections were held at the end of August and Parliament elected Alar Karis as the new President of the Republic. Local elections took place in October and did not produce any major surprises. Regular day-to-day politics and campaigning were overshadowed by waves of COVID-19 in spring and autumn, and the onset of an energy crisis at the end of the year.

In 2021, Finland implemented the long-planned health, social and rescue services reform under the new regional governance framework. The Covid-19 vaccinations were issued and the pandemic governance debated as the minister responsible wanted to maintain tighter control. Pandemic fatigue was emerging and measures were lifted in October, only to be restored in December due to the Omicron variant of Covid-19. A new populist-splinter party emerged, speeded by contestation of the pandemic measures. As Finland made a large-scale investment in US-based fighter jets, NATO collaboration and Russian security concerns were discussed at the end of the year. Women remained strong in Finnish political leadership, and there were also some related changes in ministerial positions. The Finnish municipalities chose their councils for the last time independent of the regional elections. The municipal elections, delayed due to the pandemic to June, indicated the status of party competition at the time.

COVID-19 aside, France spent 2021 preparing for the presidential campaign. Political signals were mixed with regard to the dynamics of the election to come in April 2022. Regional elections led to landslide re-elections of incumbents from the two formerly dominant parties of the moderate right and left. Primaries on the left as well as right led to the designation of rather centrist candidates in their own camps. But the overall national climate was marked by a shift towards the right of the political spectrum and the competition between Marine Le Pen and her new challenger, Eric Zemmour.

Against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal parliamentary election as well as five regional elections in Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin were held in Germany in 2021. For the first time, Germany is now governed by a so-called traffic light coalition of the Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the Free Democrats (FDP). After 16 years of Angela Merkel's (CDU) chancellorship, Olaf Scholz (SPD) became the new Chancellor. The issue of climate change gained particular traction in the election campaign after devastating floods hit Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia in July. In April, the Federal Constitutional Court had ruled the Climate Protection Act not to be far-reaching enough to protect the rights of future generations, calling for a revision that the outgoing governing coalition completed in June.

Zusammenfassung

Vor dem Hintergrund der COVID-19-Pandemie fanden in Deutschland im Jahr 2021 die Bundestagswahl sowie fünf Landtagswahlen in Baden-Württemberg, Rheinland-Pfalz, Sachsen-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern und Berlin statt. Zum ersten Mal wird Deutschland von einer sogenannten Ampelkoalition aus SPD, Grünen und FDP regiert. Nach 16 Jahren Kanzlerschaft von Angela Merkel (CDU) ist Olaf Scholz (SPD) der neue Bundeskanzler. Das Thema Klimawandel hat im Wahlkampf eine besondere Bedeutung erlangt, nachdem es im Juli in Rheinland-Pfalz und Nordrhein-Westfalen zu verheerenden Überschwemmungen kam. Im April hatte das Bundesverfassungsgericht entschieden, dass das Klimaschutzgesetz nicht weit genug geht, um die Rechte künftiger Generationen zu schützen, und eine Überarbeitung gefordert, die die scheidende Regierungskoalition im Juni abgeschlossen hat.

The year 2021 marked the 200th anniversary of the onset of the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire. On top of the ongoing economic recovery, the government continued to deal with the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. A significant anti-vax movement developed. In the summer, devastating wildfires ravaged Greece. The mounting critique about the handling of the fires together with the worsening situation of the pandemic pointed to a drastic Cabinet reshuffle. Such a reshuffle was attempted but ended up undermining the government's effort to start afresh. Regardless, the ruling party, New Democracy/Nea Dimokratia (ND), remained hegemonic according to the polls. Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita increased at a faster rate than expected, but the trade deficit of the country also increased dramatically. Inflation was at the highest point in a decade at 5%. The #MeToo movement eventually reached Greece involving public figures. Finally, this was the year with a staggering number of femicides, 17 in total.

The Hungarian governing party Fidesz maintained a state of emergency in 2021, but aside from the pandemic, it focused on setting the tone for the 2022 elections and on developing a new communication strategy targeting sexual minorities. Regarding the institutional framework, the restructuration of higher education is highlighted in the article. The main opposition primaries, which took place in the fall, are also discussed. The text offers an insight into the political dynamic of opposition parties and presents basic data about the primaries.

Icelandic politics in 2021 were strongly dominated by two features: the ongoing struggle with Covid-19 and the parliamentary election which took place on 25 September. Covid-19 was in many ways the primary task of government throughout the year and, while criticism of various restrictions of personal freedoms grew louder as the year wore on, the situation remained relatively calm compared to most other countries. The parliamentary election was to a certain extent overshadowed by the pandemic crisis and the opposition parties in particular had a difficult time of finding a clear voice in a situation where expert rule was the norm and by far the most prominent part of the government agenda. After four years in power, the three-way coalition of the Left-Greens, Independence Party and Progressive Party was re-elected in September, signalling a continuation of the partial return to stability which its formation in 2017 had signalled.

The political year started and ended with surges in Covid-19 cases dominating the political world, business and citizens’ lives. Caution at the end of the year was probably determined by what had happened at the start of 2021, with a surge in deaths from Covid-19 damaging the government's reputation and its parties’ support. Other more normal issues also started to return to politics, which made 2021 a more typical year of government versus opposition, with the main opposition party gaining support.

The year 2021 can be described in Israeli politics as one of change. After 12 consecutive years in power as Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu left office. After four election campaigns in two years, the ‘Anti-Netanyahu bloc’ managed to form a minimum winning coalition of 61 Knesset members (one Member of the Knesset did not vote with the coalition). A rotation government was agreed upon, with the post of Prime Minister switching between Naftali Bennet, Yemina (right-wing party) leader and Yair Lapid, Yesh Atid leader (the largest party in the coalition). Bennet served as Prime Minister first, even though his party only had six seats in the coalition. During 2021, Israel experienced terrorist incidents and a major military operation, as well as severe riots in mixed Jewish–Arab cities. Economic performance improved as the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, with economic indicators being better than for other OECD countries.

In Italy, 2021 has been a year marking a turning point in the struggle against the COVID-19 pandemic, and a time of economic, political and social transition. The country has reaped several important successes, policy-wise, both with regard to the efficacy of its vaccination campaign and to the drafting of its National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP). All this was achieved after a quite troubled start of the year, with the fall of the Conte II government and the arrival in office of the new Prime Minister, Mario Draghi. The effects of the pandemic and the advent of the Draghi government affected both the dynamic of competition in the Italian party system and the intra-party conflicts. The 2021 round of Italian local elections, involving thousands of municipalities, triggered a surprising victory for the centre left and marked an important shift in the electoral balance of power between Italian parties.