Political change is in the air, from Europe to India and Australia, and markets should take heed

Recent elections around the world have mostly produced surprises and attacks on the status quo. The ripple of change will have an effect on the overstretched market, so we should expect bloated prices to fall

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The change started at the ballot box, such as this one in Australia. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:00pm, 30 May 2019Updated: 6:07pm, 18 Jun 2019

“The wind of change is blowing through this continent. And whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact.” These words were spoken by British prime minister Harold Macmillan in 1960 about Africa but can be easily applied today to the continent of Europe. Following the European Parliament elections this week, the traditional parties have found themselves on the back foot.

The battle for Europe is about to begin, as the elections saw increasing support for reform from within that seeks to box in the patriarchal arrogance of the current crop of European Union leaders. It is somewhat ironic that the model of Europe as a collective of nations seems more popular, now that Britain has shaken itself apart for the last three years for suggesting such a thing.

The Brexit policy of just bailing out into the dark and stormy night has been quietly ditched over the Channel. Even in the UK, Remain parties outvoted Brexit supporters by 40 to 35 per cent in the European elections. Meanwhile, the “Brexidiots” and the “Remoaners” continue to battle it out in a race to the bottom, leaving Britain with no prime minister and a rudderless government.

My money is still on the UK falling out of Europe but if the European side became less federally extreme, it is just possible that a deal might be done before the UK jumps — or not long after.

The European elections are the second largest democratic vote in the world – with some 400 million people eligible to cast their ballots. That is 6 per cent of the world’s population. The largest is that of India, which has an electorate of 900 million. Together with recent general elections in Australia, Spain and South Africa, some 18 per cent of the world’s population has been able to vote in the past 30 days.