Worldwide, more elections are scheduled to happen in 2024 than in previous years, with 64 countries having major polls, engaging approximately 49% of the global population in shaping their political future. Although not all of these elections are free or fair, they will all inevitably bring out dormant conflicts with heated campaigns, debates, rhetoric, and accusations, which can have social and mental health implications. Elections can have an impact on anxiety, depression, and violent and suicidal behaviours. One major issue observed in elections is the use of psychiatric diagnostic labels to discredit political opponents. Most national psychiatric associations support the American Psychiatric Association’s Goldwater Rule, which prohibits providing diagnoses or professional opinions about the mental health of public figures without full clinical examination and the individual’s authorisation. Psychiatric disorders are complex health conditions with substantial biological, psychological, sociological, and cultural aspects and should only be diagnosed in a clinical assessment done by a licensed mental health professional bound by confidentiality. Mental health professionals who comment publicly on a candidate’s mental fitness for office might be inappropriately expressing their own political biases in psychiatric terms. Psychiatric labelling is often used to denigrate political candidates, which can increase the stigma of psychiatric conditions, and subsequently decrease societal trust in accessing and use of mental health services.