The people of Taiwan will vote not only for their next president, but also on their country's policy toward China. The relationship between Beijing and the self-governing island is fraught with tension, but in November, the two countries' leaders met for the first time ever. Some observers say this meeting was China's attempt to convince Taiwanese voters to stick with the ruling KMT party.

Voter turnout in the African nation has been decreasing over the last elections. In 2001, when President Yoweri Museveni was still popular, turnout was 70.3 percent. By 2011, it had decreased to 59.3 percent, and analysts assume it'll be even lower this time around. Museveni is running for a fifth term that would extend his rule to 30 years, but the lives of Uganda's poor haven't improved much.

Since the economic effects of the nuclear deal reached in July 2015 still remain to be seen, it's not clear yet how the agreement could influence the elections and whether more moderates will be able to gain seats. In a speech last May, President Hassan Rouhani stressed that all people in Iran were free to "express their ideas." Fundamentalists have held a majority in parliament since 2004.

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has been mired in a corruption scandal, and not just since former president Sepp Blatter - seen here at a press conference where a protester threw money at him - was forced to step down in October 2015. The organization hopes that a new president will enable a fresh start.

In Austria, as in Germany, the president has more symbolic value than actual power. The candidates aren't party officials, but each one is backed by a party. Since Austria has seen a high influx of refugees in 2015, it will be interesting to see whether a candidate backed by the Social Democrats (SPÖ) or one with support from the right-wing-populist FPÖ will win.

Peruvians could elect the daughter of a former president this spring: Keiko Fujimori, whose father is Alberto Fujimori, president from 1990 till 2000. That's not necessarily to her advantage, though. Alberto Fujimori was convicted of human rights violations in 2009 and sentenced to 25 years in prison for his involvement in killings and kidnappings while fighting leftist guerillas in the 1990s.

Originally, the Duma elections were supposed to be in winter, but they were moved up three months - a change that's considered to benefit President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party. With the vote taking place in September, the campaign will run during vacation season, which critics say disadvantages opposition members who are trying to make themselves known.

The year finishes big, with the election of the person many call the most powerful in the world. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are fighting it out for the Democratic nomination. On the Republican side, Donald Trump has been leading the polls for months by winning over conservative Tea Party supporters with racist rants. The race to the finish line will be the most-covered election in 2016.

Will this become New Zealand's new flag? Or will people there vote to keep the old one, which has a Union Jack in the upper left-hand corner instead of a fern as seen here? The three-week vote in March is only the latest round in the flag saga. For decades, alternative designs have been proposed, and in December 2015, the black fern design won the first round of a nationwide referendum.