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Elections Across the World are the Topic of Conversation on The World for 5-23

It's all about the votes, past, present and future. Let's talk elections.

First, we've been hearing rumblings about the rise of far right parties in Europe for a while now. In Britain, one such party is called UKIP, and it's done quite well in the latest round of local elections. We'll check in with the BBC's Paul Moss, who has been following not only the rise of UKIP, but the rise of other right-wing parties in places such as Finland, Italy and Greece.

We also look ahead to the Ukrainian elections which are set for this weekend. Who are the frontrunners? Will cities in the eastern part of the country participate? We check in with Kiev.

Then it's on to Egypt, where elections are happening next week. The biggest "party" in Egypt, though, might well be those who don't vote. They've been dubbed "The Sofa Party," as in they want to sit around on the sofa instead of voting.

All that, plus you may have heard about the French railway company that ordered a bunch of trains that are too wide for the station platforms. Ooo la la! But the French are hardly the only ones who have made these kinds of mistakes. We'll speak with Mario Livio, author of a book called Brilliant Blunders.