The unusually high number of elections taking place around the world this year poses a challenge to markets, according to one of the country's largest investment managers.
Countries representing half of the world's population will hold elections at some stage this year.
That includes the US presidential election and European Parliament votes - as well as elections in large countries like India, Pakistan and Mexico.
There is also the probability of a UK general election this year, and the possibility of a general election in Ireland too.
"The most important election is going to be the presidential election in the US," said Lenny McLoughlin, investment strategist at Irish Life Investment Managers. "But when we look at election years in the States, they typically tend to be very strong years for equity markets, historically going back to the 1930s.
"Key in the US election this year is whether either party gets a clean sweep... control of both houses of Congress and the presidency - and if they do that that would mean implimenting fiscal policy would be much easier."
Mr McLoughlin also said an electoral success for Donald Trump could mean bigger changes, particularly regarding the US and its relationship with other countries.
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Outside of the US he said that research typically shows they have a limited impact on global markets - unless there is a huge policy change or shock.
"If that doesn't happen I think the impact of these elections is likely to be quite modest," he said. "But if that volatility occurs, having a well-diversified, broad spread of assets is quite important to ensure you have protection and can perform well in all types of environments."
Elections are not thing creating uncertainty, though.
Central banks around the world have come to the end of their harsh interest rate rising programmes, with cuts anticipated in the coming months.
However the exact timing - and scale - of those cuts are still unclear.
"The market, at the moment, is expecting the Fed to cut rates in March and the ECB in April - and between the two to have cuts of 125-150 base points over the course of the year," said Mr McLoughlin. "Our own sense is that, given the strength in the US economy, and some of the risk around inflation because of the problems you're having in the shipping side and in the Red Sea - that could be pushed out to the mid-summer.
"But if inflation continues to fall you will see cuts through to the second half of the year - and that tends to be positive for both equities and bonds."
There has been a growing interest around sustainable investments in recent years - though much of that was at a time when interest rates were low and markets were bouyant.
However Mr McLoughlin said that, despite the changed environment and increased uncertainty, there is still a trend in favour of going green.
"Sustainable investing is a trend that will continue and we think it's the right thing to do," he said. "If you look at something like the fossil fuel industry, there is a risk that may not exist in several years' time - so we think it's prudent to move money away from these areas of the economy that are at risk.
"Overall there's a dual purpose in this - it's putting money into areas of the market that will grow and are likely to show stronger returns and remain in existence over the long term, but also helping the environment."
