Lula wins fourth term as Brazil president after historic upset over far-right Flávio Bolsonaro
Leftist incumbent Lula says unprecedented comeback was a ‘defeat for denialism’ as Bolsonaro refuses to accept election result * Lula wins election in stunning comeback – live updates Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Brazilian president, has staged a dramatic election fightback, defeating his far-right opponent, Flávio Bolsonaro, to claim a historic fourth term in power. With 100% of votes counted the 80-year-old leftist received 4.4m votes more than Bolsonaro, with a 51.79% share to his 45-year-old rival’s 48.21%. However, soon after Brazil’s electoral authority confirmed Lula’s victory, Bolsonaro refused to concede defeat and asked for the results to be annulled. Continue reading...
Serbian leader Aleksandar Vučić concedes defeat in fiercely contested parliamentary election
Vučić’s 12-year reign looks to have been ended by record turnout of voters in election provoked by student-led protests Serbia’s veteran leader Aleksandar Vučić has conceded defeat to the student movement, ushering in a seismic political shift after two years of student-led protests gave rise to a fiercely contested parliamentary election. Speaking on Sunday, Vučić cited preliminary results that showed the student-backed protest movement surging ahead. “Based on a stratified sample, it is clear that we lost these elections,” Vučić told supporters at his party headquarters in Belgrade. Continue reading...
Audi boss under fire in Germany for Trump rally appearance
Gernot Döllner criticised for in-person announcement of major investment in US days before midterm elections The head of the luxury carmaker Audi is under fire in Germany for appearing at a rally with Donald Trump just days before the US midterm elections, to announce billions of dollars of investment in battleground state Georgia. Gernot Döllner joined Trump on stage after the US president gave a speech criticised by the head of an elected body of employees at Audi’s parent company, Volkswagen, as being full of “racism, sexism, transphobia [and] contempt for democracy”. Continue reading...
Bolsonaro's refusal to concede underscores ‘serious’ challenges to Brazil's democratic institutions
Annette Young is pleased to welcome Dr Pedro Perfeito da Silva, Latin American specialist at the University of Exeter. For Dr Perfeito da Silva, Lula's stunning success reflects the convergence of digital organizing, grassroots mobilization, targeted socioeconomic appeals and an effective effort to mobilise opposition to the Bolsonaro political project. As he explains, Lula assembled a coalition that "not only energized his supporters but also attracted voters from groups that had been somewhat skeptical of the government in the first round."
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