This year heralds a new world order in politics as the three major powers take part in leadership elections.
Out go US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron, while Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe is re-elected.
In Britain, Home Secretary Theresa May is the last candidate standing after her only opponent Angela Leadsom pulled out of the race for 10 Downing Street with a call for unity within the party.
Cameron resigned after Britain voted to leave the European Union in the recent referendum.
Speculation suggests Leadsom found coping with premier league political backbiting too sour for her taste after a row over the weekend.
Mother of all mistakes
She was taped claiming she was the better candidate as she had children, while May did not, which made her more invested in the future of the country than her rival.
May is now expected to take up her new role in Downing Street within the week after seeing the Brexit leave triumvirate of Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Leadsom all effectively wiped out as a force in politics.
Abe is celebrating a landslide victory in the upper house, while his party already controls the lower house.
He has rekindled nationalist spirit in Japan by winning his election on the back of rewriting the country’s constitution by deleting the non-violence clauses that prevent Tokyo going to war.
China is particularly concerned about the prospect of the measure as a ruling by an international court sitting in The Hague, Netherlands, is expected to order Beijing to renounce claims over disputed territories in the South China Sea – some of which have Japanese interests.
Japan on the offensive?
The Japanese constitution limits Japan’s armed forces to a defensive role and bars military intervention to settle international disputes. Rewriting the clauses brings political uncertainty to the region.
America also faces a struggle for the White House between Democrat Hillary Clinton and outspoken Republican Donald Trump.
The election takes place in November and the new incumbent will take their seat in the White House in January.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull has claimed victory and another term in the Australian national election after the opposition conceded defeat.
His Liberal Party has had to form a coalition to give a working majority, however a loose coalition in the upper house will allow opponents to block government bills.
Commentators expect this will lead to another election before the end of the proscribed three-year term.
>