Earlier this week, our senior international correspondent Julian Borger, drew on all his experience to explain how the following days could “shake the world”, with four pivotal elections. As Julian explained, the contests are interwoven, mostly because of the way Donald Trump’s hard right Maga movement has sought to influence them all.
So far, we have had three: in Brazil, Serbia and Israel. On Tuesday, the US midterms may prove to be the most decisive. They could determine the future of Trump’s presidency, with many potential repercussions for the rest of us.
What we have learned so far has given progressives some cause for hope.
Students and young people were instrumental in the stunning runoff election in Brazil that returned incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to power despite losing the first round to the far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro.
The turnaround was unprecedented. Lula attracted more than 10m additional votes in the three weeks between the two rounds. In his victory speech, he thanked “the generosity of Brazil’s young people who took to the streets to defend democracy”.
Tiago Rogero and Tom Phillips wrote this analysis of how young people and social media helped power Lula’s comeback, quoting a political scientist who explained that “the streets and social media almost overlap”. We also published this explainer video.
Tom examined how Bolsonaro’s defeat by Lula represents a major blow to the “orange wave” of rightwing triumphs that have reshaped Latin American politics in Donald Trump’s image. He also answered readers’ questions about whether Lula’s victory might end the continent’s rightward lurch.
As Jordana Timerman noted, the election demonstrated how Trump’s support for rightwing candidates can backfire, allowing Lula to recast the battle against the far right as a fight to protect national sovereignty.
In Serbia, a student-led movement that grew out of a two-year protest against the autocratic government resoundingly defeated the country’s long-serving leader, Aleksandar Vu*i*. Reporting from Belgrade, Ana Milosavljevic captured the joy felt by many voters. We also heard from members of the movement about their radical experiment in grassroots democracy and the power of protest to reshape politics, including in this fascinating episode of Today in Focus.
Guy de Launey spoke to members of the Student List, the direct democracy movement that won, about their immediate priorities, and Aleksandar Matkovi* highlighted the lessons to be learned by activists in other European countries.
Israel’s election was always expected to be complicated, and so it has proved. Julian and Emma Graham-Harrison were there for what was billed as the most consequential election in Israel’s history. As polls closed, the results showed no clear winner among Jewish Israeli parties, and a surge in the number of seats won by parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel. Emma wrote about how the self-imposed ban on a broader opposition alliance, if it holds, offers Benjamin Netanyahu the prospect of turning his defeat into another term in office – or at least a prolonged mandate as caretaker prime minister and a possible additional round of elections.
Ahead of the vote, William Christou spoke to an increasingly conservative generation of young Israelis. When one interview from our feature film was widely clipped and shared by other outlets, Will filmed an additional social video for audiences who might have seen the moment out of context.
This week’s pivotal ballots have demonstrated how elections can sometimes upend politics and lead to an impasse. Next week, we’ll see the extent to which the US midterms alter America’s political landscape. We will be with you every step of the way; you can follow all our coverage here.