The electoral earthquakes have come fast and heavy over the past few years, whether Brexit in the United Kingdom, the Trump presidency in the United States, or the anti-establishment coalition in Italy. With key elections slated to be held on every continent, will the trend continue in 2019?

Here are a few that could help to shape the political fabric of Europe in the years to come:

Forecast

European Parliament (May 23)

The European legislature has been panned as, byzantine, undemocratic, and serving no greater a purpose than providing a continental stage for empty political showboating. However, amid the tumult of Brexit, rising populism, and institutional drift along the Union’s eastern flank, there’s an argument to be made that upcoming European Parliament elections will be the most important ever held. Brussels is keenly aware that if European institutions don’t close the representation gap and prove themselves relevant to the lives of everyday Europeans across the continent, they risk being swept away by the populist wave.

A total of 705 seats will be up for grabs in 28 member-states. The MEP total is down from 2014 due to Brexit; of the UK’s 73 seats, 46 are to be eliminated and 27 redistributed among 14 EU countries.

Of course, Brexit is still a work in progress, and if the exit date is pushed back from March 29, the MEP redistribution plan could be revised again. There are all sorts of political landmines here, including the UK remaining in a bloc where it is unrepresented at the legislative level, or alternatively voting for a parliament and then promptly exiting the bloc.

We’re likely to see a more unique parliamentary composition than what we’re used to result from the May election. According to early polling, the usual European People’s Party (EPP) – Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) coalition that has dominated the institution since 1979 will not receive enough seats to form a majority. Instead, there will be gains by small and mid-sized parties, creating coalition algebra that’s much harder to predict. Broadly speaking, coalition formation may fall to whether parties are pro- or anti-EU, rather than their ideological approach toward policymaking.

Some key trends to monitor: