Editors’ Notes
Elections over the last ten days have shaken up the world. For many in Brazil, Israel, and Serbia hope lies ahead of a new day for their countries, as does uncertainty. In Israel, with no party reaching the required governing majority, it could take a maximum of 200 days to see their new governing coalition solidified. In Serbia, the student-led movement had an impressive win, but it remains to be seen if they can govern well. In Brazil, some on the left are cheering on a more democratic leader, but Glenn Greenwald (Center), a journalist based in Brazil, argued that democratic governments don’t confiscate the passports of the losing candidate.
News About the Recent Elections
On Sunday, Brazil's incumbent progressive President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated conservative Flávio Bolsonaro, son of the house-arrested former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, in the country's presidential election runoff. Bolsonaro was the favorite going into the race with a predicted 1-2% lead. Following his election loss, Brazilian courts ordered Bolsonaro to surrender his passports, but on Wednesday afternoon he reportedly landed in Miami with President Trump approving his entry to the United States.
Meanwhile, in Serbia the student-led protest movement defeated longtime political leader Aleksandar Vučić of the Serbian Progressive party. The movement has held anti-corruption protests in the country since 2024.
Israel held elections on Tuesday where none of the parties reached the 61-seat majority needed to form a government. Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition won 53 seats, Netanyahu’s opposition Gadi Eisenkot’s bloc won 48, and the two Arab parties won a combined total of 19. Netanyahu is unlikely to be able to form a governing majority unless he is able to pull support from Eisenkot’s bloc. In the next two weeks Israel’s President Isaac Herzog will designate a candidate that will have a maximum of 42 days to form a functioning governing coalition, otherwise a second candidate will be chosen.
Read more:
- Serbia's Student-Led Movement Wins Parliamentary Election
- Bolsonaro Family Reportedly Flees Brazil, US State Dept Says It Will Issue Visas
- Lula Defeats Bolsonaro in Unprecedented and Historic Brazilian Election
- No Majority Reached in Israeli Election, Netanyahu to Stay as Leader
Analysis and Opinions about Democracy Worldwide
Voices on the left were more likely to focus on the failures of conservative candidates and praise the democratic processes abroad, looking to them as a model for how the US midterms could pan out. The right was more likely to show skepticism toward the results, with Trump calling the Brazilian election “rigged.” Notably, Serbia and Brazil were partners with Israel, and the recent elections make it unclear if they’ll maintain that allyship.
In Persuasion (Center) Francis Fukuyama said, “Sunday October 25 saw two very hopeful events from different parts of the world. They give us some optimism that democratic backsliding is not inevitable, and that it is possible to fight back against the rising tide of authoritarianism. The first was the return of MarĂa Corina Machado to Venezuela…The second rather miraculous event occurring Sunday was the victory of the Student List over the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in Serbia’s parliamentary election, and strongman Alexander VuÄŤić’s concession…The most important election of all will occur in the United States, where American voters will have the opportunity of rejecting a Republican Party that has been dominated by a right-wing authoritarian, Donald Trump. If this happens we will have clear evidence that democracy, far from being a dying doctrine, has strength and vitality in many different parts of the world.”
A Vox (Left) piece read, “More than that, these results [in Brazil and Serbia] offer evidence of something that sounds naive and Pollyannish in our current moment, but can (apparently!) still prove true: Organizing can be a powerful force for electoral change — both abroad and maybe here at home…Looking at these projects abroad, I’m struck that American pro-democracy movements like No Kings haven’t achieved that kind of influence…But there are some signs that may be shifting…Indivisible, one of the groups behind the movement, claims that early voting surged during the latest protests in the zip codes where they occurred. It’s not exactly a central Balkan moment, but maybe it’s a hint of things to come. Elections can surprise you, after all. Just ask a Serb or a Brazilian.”
A columnist wrote for the Free Press (Lean Right), “Remember Donald Trump’s endorsement of Netanyahu in the days leading up to the election? Some suspect that Netanyahu was able to get the U.S. president’s backing because Trump wanted to stop him from approving a preelection Israeli strike on Iran, which could have delayed the election… Netanyahu did not win on Tuesday. In pure mathematical terms, he crashed. But he may have done just well enough to deny his opponent, Eisenkot, a win of his own and buy himself the time he desperately needs to achieve the task he has consistently declared his primary legacy: The final felling of Israel’s greatest and most dangerous foe, the regime in Tehran.”
Marc Champion wrote in Bloomberg (Center), “Two things can be said about Israel’s election on Tuesday, even though it may be days or weeks before it becomes clear who will next lead the country. The first is that, as an exercise in participatory democracy, this vote was immense. An unprecedented 77% of eligible voters cared enough to vote in what amounted to a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s responsibility for, and response to, the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023. The second is that this democracy could well be extinguished depending on what happens next.”
