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Four significant elections have taken place in different parts of the world over the past two weeks, delivering major setbacks to authoritarian leaders. The results have renewed hope that democracy may have a greater ability to recover than previously thought.
Elections in Brazil, Serbia, Israel and the United States took place under different circumstances, with each country’s unique domestic issues influencing the outcomes. However, all four elections demonstrated that grassroots movements can bring unexpected change when people organise collectively. Leaders seeking to establish authoritarian rule can be stopped, and the global trend towards authoritarianism may even begin to reverse.
In Brazil, voter turnout increased during the second round of the presidential election on October 25. Grassroots activism and the strategic use of social media played a significant role in this development. As a result, the far-right movement lost an opportunity to further consolidate its control over the country. Just three weeks earlier, the movement had gained control of Congress and appeared to be gaining momentum in the presidential race.
On the same day, thousands of kilometres away in Serbia, a student-led grassroots movement secured an unexpected victory. It defeated a ruling establishment that had held on to power for 14 years while repeatedly violating democratic norms. The margin of victory was so substantial that outgoing leader Aleksandar Vučić was forced to abandon any consideration of using force to overturn the results.
The outcome of Israel’s election, held two days later, was less decisive. However, it deprived Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had dominated the country’s politics for three decades, of a parliamentary majority. The results reflected voters’ dissatisfaction with his attempts to bring state security agencies under political control and undermine the independence of the media and judiciary.
The mainstream opposition’s Jewish parties, which seek to remove Netanyahu from power, have expressed interest in restoring democratic norms. However, more than 10 days after the election, it remains unclear how willing they are to cooperate with Arab-Israeli parties to form a government.
The growing support for Arab parties was the biggest surprise of the Israeli election. A doubling of voter turnout among Palestinians holding Israeli citizenship contributed to this outcome. However, Netanyahu has attempted to challenge their success by alleging foreign funding and vote-buying. No evidence has been presented to support these allegations. Meanwhile, some Jewish leaders in the opposition camp have also shown reluctance to form a government in partnership with Arab parties.
The results of the US midterm elections will also influence the future political direction of these three countries. Elections were held in all four countries within a span of 10 days. In the United States, the opposition Democrats secured a sweeping victory in Tuesday’s election, winning both chambers of Congress. The outcome is expected to significantly reshape the final two years of Donald Trump’s presidency.
The Democrats secured comfortable majorities in both the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, and the Senate, the upper chamber. They also won in several states that had been Republican strongholds for generations.
The scale of the voters’ rebuke has weakened Trump. His Republican Party began showing signs of division shortly after the results were announced. However, restoring American democracy to a healthy state will be a major challenge for the newly empowered Democratic majority. Over the past two years, Trump and his Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement have turned at least some federal government agencies into political instruments.
The US election results also carry significant international implications. They weaken the ability of a government that has undermined democratic freedoms at home to encourage and support similar governments in other countries. Source: The Guardian.
