Elections

Leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has defeated right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro in Brazil’s contentious presidential race, pulling off a remarkable comeback after a first-round loss that galvanised the country’s political right.

Shortly after 9:00pm Brasilia time on Sunday (00:00 GMT), Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court called the race for Lula, who had earned more than 51 percent of the vote. More than 64 million ballots were cast for the incumbent.

Bolsonaro, meanwhile, netted 48 percent, or north of 59 million ballots. More than 4 million votes separated the two candidates, with the final votes still being counted.

With his victory, Lula has made history. No other politician in modern Brazilian history has lost the first round of a presidential election only to win the second round.

“A historic turning point for democracy,” Edinho Silva, the head of Lula’s Workers’ Party, posted on social media, along with a video of supporters chanting, “Ole, ole, ole, ole, ola! Lula, Lula!”

Still, the vote process was marred by allegations of voter suppression after reports emerged that public transport in some areas had been suspended.

Lula’s allies accused Bolsonaro’s supporters of reducing bus availability, in an attempt dampen the president’s working-class base.

Heavy rains, meanwhile, affected southern areas considered to be Bolsonaro strongholds.

The campaigns of both Lula and Bolsonaro ultimately petitioned the Supreme Court for a voting extension. Polls across the country were kept open two hours later than expected, until 7pm Brasilia time (22:00 GMT).

Sunday’s victory means Lula will retain the presidency of Latin America’s largest country, denying a crucial victory to the region’s right wing.

In recent years, right-wing leaders have swept presidential races in nearby countries like Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador. Many have ridden a wave of anti-incumbent energy and enjoyed support from United States President Donald Trump, who returned to office in January 2025.

A former union leader for metalworkers, Lula – at age 80 – will be sworn in on January 5, 2027, when he will beat his own record as the oldest Brazilian president to take the oath of office since the country’s return to democracy.

His victory has earned him an unprecedented fourth non-consecutive term.

Lula came into Sunday’s run-off as an underdog. While he narrowly led pre-election, the first round of voting on October 4 showed him trailing Bolsonaro.

He earned 45 percent of the first-round vote, compared with the right-wing senator’s 47 percent, both tallies short of the 50 percent needed to avoid a run-off.

But in the weeks since, Lula has rallied supporters around cost-of-living issues. He championed a constitutional amendment passed this month that shortened the Brazilian workweek, and floated the possibility of providing free public transport on weekends.

Having entered politics in the 1980s, during the twilight of the country’s military dictatorship, Lula has run for president seven times.

He won two consecutive terms from 2002 through 2010, as well as a third term in 2022, in what was the tightest race in modern Brazilian history up to that point.

His rival in that election, former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, is the father of Senator Bolsonaro, Lula’s adversary in this race.

Jair Bolsonaro has since been sentenced to 27 years in prison for his role in plotting a coup following his loss to Lula.

Despite overseeing a decline in poverty and low unemployment during his third term in office, Lula has faced questions about his age, his ability to combat crime, and the country’s polarised political landscape.

An explosion of household debt has also left many Brazilians feeling their economic circumstances have worsened.

In September, Lula banned online gambling and sport betting apps to address the issue.

While the victory over Bolsonaro cements Lula’s status as one of the most significant and influential figures in Brazil’s modern history, efforts to advance legislative priorities during his fourth term could be stymied by the most right-wing Congress in recent memory.

Orleans, France – Marine Le Pen took to the stage with a clear message: She would lead France’s “renaissance” as the country sank into crisis – and she would do so soon.

The far-right figure’s words were met with cheers from thousands of supporters gathered in Orleans in central France on Sunday, as she launched her presidential campaign against a backdrop of mass demonstrations and widespread social and economic discontent.

“Marine présidente!” the crowd chanted, waving French flags beneath a sea of red and blue lights. Organisers said 8,500 supporters had gathered in a venue transformed into a fort for the event.

Standing tall on stage in a pink blazer, her hair impeccably coiffed, Le Pen spoke with the confidence of a leader who believes the presidency is within reach.

Riding high in the polls, with candidates from the right, left and centre trailing behind her, she presented the election as a historic opportunity to restore France’s past glory.

“This is a story to be written, a destiny to be fulfilled,” she told the crowd, which erupted in cheers.

Her pitch was a promise to restore authority and security in a country she portrayed as having lost control.

“We are going to re-establish the rule of law,” she said, drawing loud applause from supporters wearing “Marine présidente” T-shirts.

Manon Funeau, 21, a business school student, was among the supporters.

“What they propose are values that resonate with me, that vibrate within me,” she said. “Honestly, I feel at home here.”

Le Pen’s speech comes as the country is at a crossroads. France has been shaken by a wave of protests since mid-September, a movement sparked by high school students in a Paris suburb that grew into a nationwide mobilisation tapping into widespread discontent.

Over the past two weekends, largely peaceful protests have been accompanied by episodes of violence on a scale rarely seen in recent years.

On October 17, shops were looted and ransacked, and more than 2,000 people were arrested as hundreds of thousands took to the streets of French cities. A similar dynamic unfolded the following weekend, though on a smaller scale. The protests show little sign of abating, with calls for further demonstrations already circulating.

The unrest has given Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) an opportunity to play one of its favourite cards: presenting itself as the guarantor of law and order. It has fuelled criticism of President Emmanuel Macron over his handling of public security, allowing Le Pen to accuse him of incompetence and the far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon – a contender in the coming elections – of encouraging the violence.

‘My country is drifting off course’

“I believe that my country is currently drifting off course,” said Nadede, a 56-year-old who began voting for RN in 2024 over what she said was the country’s growing lack of security. She did not spell out any specific event.

“I think that the only person capable of setting it back on the right track is Marine Le Pen – especially since, up until now, everyone else who has run for office has struggled to do so,” she said.

Outside the convention hall, the scale of the security operation offered a glimpse of the tensions surrounding the event. Police checks began at departure stations in Paris and continued on arrival, while officers in full gear moved through train carriages during the journey.

Orleans itself had been brought to a near standstill. All businesses were shut and public transport suspended.

Standing almost alone in the city’s main square was the statue of Joan of Arc, surrounded only by fences. A day earlier, about 3,000 police officers had been deployed to prevent unrest as anti-RN protesters gathered against what they say is a xenophobic and racist party.

Orleans was no casual choice. For a party that has long sought to cast itself as the guardian of French identity and national sovereignty, the city is inseparable from the story of Joan of Arc, the 15th-century heroine who helped lift the English siege of Orléans in 1429 and became a symbol of France’s resistance and liberation.

For decades, the far right has claimed her as an emblem of national pride, invoking the image of a warrior who came to save France from foreign domination. Le Pen herself has drawn parallels between Joan’s mission and her political ambitions.

The crowd at the RN Congress offered a glimpse of how the party has expanded its appeal to a wider section of society: from young people from urban centres to middle-class workers who used to vote for the centrist party.

Only a few years ago, the party was still considered on the fringes of French politics. Its growth has been driven in part by a carefully crafted strategy known as dédiabolisation, or de-demonisation, developed over the past two decades to broaden the party’s base while tempering its rhetoric and distancing it from positions that had made it toxic to many voters.

The party has long been associated with racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism. Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, was convicted of hate speech, including for describing Nazi gas chambers as “a detail of history”. He was expelled from the party in 2015.

Far right ‘gaining ground’

Marine Le Pen has sought to broaden RN’s appeal, combining restrictive immigration policies with promises of social protection. The party has gained ground in working-class areas traditionally associated with the left, including former Communist strongholds, by presenting itself as a defender of public services and the purchasing power of everyday people.

While RN has long abandoned some of its most radical proposals, including leaving the Eurozone and pursuing a fully fledged “Frexit”, the election of such a eurosceptic to the helm of the European Union’s second-largest economy would send shockwaves. She has pledged a referendum to challenge the primacy of EU law over migration policy, as well as an annual 11-billion-euro ($12.3bn) reduction in France’s contribution to the bloc.

The party’s membership has nearly tripled, with approximately 112,000 members now paying their dues, up from fewer than 37,000 in 2022.

“The party has been gaining ground at every level: mayors, deputies, senators. Usually, when a movement seems on the rise, people join,” said Baptiste Roger-Lacan, a historian and political analyst with a focus on far-right parties in Europe. “It also shows how it is less and less socially damaging to be a member of the RN.”

But the party’s programme “is still fraught with fiscal absurdity”, Roger-Lacan said. “They still want to implement racist laws, which are bound to provoke widespread anger, and their diplomatic agenda is still pro-Russian and anti-EU – even if they don’t advocate Frexit any more.”

Jordan Bardella, Le Pen’s second-in-command and Le Pen protégé – an impeccably dressed 31-year-old who looks like a cross between the Wolf of Wall Street and Superman’s alter ego, Clark Kent – also spoke at the event.

“No one should be intimidated by their political opinions,” he said, speaking ahead of his mentor.

Some observers say the October 17 protests and their aftermath have proved a gift to RN, allowing the party to not only reinforce its law-and-order message but also to shift attention away from recent difficulties.

In September, investigative outlet Mediapart published allegations that Bardella had expressed anti-Semitic views in private messages dating back to his teenage years. He denied the allegations and announced legal action against the journalists.

The episode posed a challenge for a party that has spent years trying to shed its xenophobic image and recast itself as a supporter of Israel.

Bardella has also reportedly differed with Le Pen over the party’s economic agenda and whether to make her proposed ban on the wearing of the Islamic headscarf in public spaces a central campaign issue.

Yet, at the Congress, those tensions appeared to have been set aside, at least publicly.

“Marine president – a Bardella government” was the slogan, projecting unity as Le Pen launched her presidential bid and Bardella positioned himself as her prospective head of government.

United States Attorney General Todd Blanche has defended the Department of Justice’s decision to sue to prevent the certification of a Republican loss in Alaska’s tight Senate race.

On Sunday, Blanche did a tour of the morning political shows in the US, making stops at CNN’s State of the Union TV programme and CBS’s Face the Nation.

In each appearance, he faced pointed questions about the legality of the Justice Department’s efforts, responding, in some cases, with open frustration.

“ Why is this controversial?” Blanche asked CNN host Dana Bash at one point. He proceeded to accuse one of the candidates in the Senate race of intentionally trying to confuse voters.

“We’re going to try to create a situation where that can be remedied,” he said. “That shouldn’t be something that is causing this shock and horror.”

But the Justice Department’s lawsuit, filed on October 22, has been the subject of bipartisan criticism.

Many have accused the administration of President Donald Trump of laying the groundwork to block a Democratic win in the race. Trump himself claimed to have authorised the lawsuit.

“I’m the one who said do it,” he told reporters on Friday.

Inside the Alaska Senate race

During the midterm elections on November 3, citizens in Alaska will be asked to vote in one of the closest Senate races in the country, one which will help decide whether Republicans maintain their majority in the chamber.

Senator Dan S Sullivan, the Republican incumbent, is seeking to defend his seat in the Senate. But he faces fierce competition from former US Representative Mary Peltola, a Democrat.

Also in the running is another candidate named Dan J Sullivan, a former Forest Service employee.

The second Sullivan’s decision to also run has raised concerns that he is a spoiler candidate, whose presence on the ballot is designed to draw votes away from the incumbent.

But the Forest Service worker has denied any such intent. Such allegations, he said, are “entirely false”.

“I am not a registered Democrat, and I have had no conversations whatsoever with the Peltola campaign about my candidacy,” the second Sullivan wrote in a letter to Alaska’s lieutenant governor before the state’s primaries.

“I have considered running for political office for over a decade. I made the decision to formally run for the United States Senate in the upcoming primary election because Senator Sullivan has routinely failed the people of Alaska, and they deserve a better representative. It is my right to do so.”

Four candidates advanced to the final round of voting after Alaska’s August primaries. They included Peltola and both Sullivans. The two men are running as Republicans.

A controversial lawsuit

The Department of Justice has argued that its lawsuit — filed less than two weeks before the midterm elections — is necessary “to protect the integrity” of the election.

Any result in the Senate race, it argues, would be “tainted by the inclusion on the ballot of Daniel J Sullivan”.

The department has therefore called on the US district court in Alaska to issue an order declaring the race’s certification “unlawful” and barring the state from “allowing such a certification to occur”.

Under the US Constitution, only states have the power to administer elections, though Congress has the right to pass regulations concerning federal votes.

It is highly unusual for a presidential administration to inject itself into issues of state election certification — and experts say such a move is likely to be deemed illegal.

Already, in June, Alaska’s Supreme Court ruled that both Sullivans could compete in the Senate race. The state’s Division of Elections has also taken steps to reduce voter confusion.

The November 3 ballot, for instance, will list Dan S Sullivan as the incumbent and as a “registered Republican”.

Dan J Sullivan, meanwhile, will have the suffix “Jr” added to his name, and his party affiliation will be left blank, despite the candidate identifying as Republican.

But in Sunday’s TV appearances, Blanche — who leads the Department of Justice and formerly served as Trump’s personal lawyer — argued that merely having two Sullivans on the ballot is a recipe for confusion.

“It is wrong,” Blanche told CNN. “Putting aside whether we’re going to win or lose in the courts, putting aside what the Alaskan Supreme Court has done, in our system we should not have a candidate who has to worry about another candidate being on the ballot for no other reason than to confuse voters.”

Blanche also denied any impropriety in Trump saying he ordered the lawsuit.

“He’s supposed to make sure that everything in this country is running right, including elections,” Blanche said.

The race for the Senate

Historically, the Department of Justice has embraced a norm of judicial independence, though critics have accused the Trump administration of wielding its prosecutorial powers for political gain.

Bash, the CNN host, raised some of those concerns, pointing to Trump’s comments accusing Democrats of cheating, as well as his history of election denialism.

The president has long denied his loss in the 2020 presidential race, and his supporters sought to block the certification of that election, notably by storming the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

When Bash pointed to that incident, Blanche chided her: “Oh, you’ve got to stop it with that.”

“Why are you yelling at me?” Bash responded, as the two talked over each other.

“You are not being a real person. Come on, man,” Blanche continued. “That is crazy.”

He also denied that Trump was setting the stage for a contested election if the Democrat Peltola were to win. Instead, he framed the lawsuit as setting the stage for further investigations into any eventual results.

“The relief that we’re seeking — which, again, isn’t to determine who the senator is, it’s not to try to overturn something the state is going to do — it’s just to make sure that the ballots that come in are kept in a way that may allow a court to investigate further,” Blanche said.

Speaking to CBS, Blanche also dodged a question about whether Trump personally asked him to file the lawsuit.

“I will never, ever, ever talk about communications that I have with the president of the United States. I never have, and I never will,” Blanche said.

The race to control the US Senate is expected to be a nail-biter, with the Republicans holding a slim majority at present: They have 53 seats in the 100-member chamber.

Only a third of the Senate’s seats — 35 in total — will be up for grabs in the midterm races, though, as terms in the chamber last six years and are staggered across different election years.

Trump’s Republican Party is projected to face an uphill battle to protect its congressional majorities, amid backlash against the rising cost of living and Trump’s own withering poll numbers.

Roughly seven Senate elections are considered toss-ups, including the Alaska race.

In early October, The New York Times and Siena College released a poll finding Peltola leading the incumbent Sullivan by nearly seven percentage points, one of the widest margins of any of the toss-up states.

In late August, United States President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on certain beef tariffs, making beef cheaper to import, particularly from Brazil.

That decision was framed as a way to bring down prices for consumers, but it landed as a betrayal for many US ranchers, who were getting ready to take their cattle to market.

It is too soon to tell how the decision will ultimately affect grocery prices, but the impact on ranchers was immediate: prices at cattle auctions plummeted, temporarily lowering ranchers’ profits. The United States Cattlemen’s Association, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Farm Bureau, all member organisations that represent ranchers, opposed the decision.

Rural Republican members of Congress also distanced themselves, but it is not yet clear how ranchers will vote in the midterms — or whether those votes will decide races.

Chad Basinger, a rancher in Pretty Prairie, Kansas, is sceptical that the imports will have a significant impact.

“I know there’s people that have said, ‘Well I’m just gonna vote for the other party’ or ‘I’m not gonna vote’ or ‘This administration’s really let me down’. So yes, there will be people that swing the other way in the midterms. But overall I don’t think it’ll be that much,” Basinger said.

Ranchers will also be weighing the administration’s other actions, Basinger said, such as the $8bn in farm relief announced in Kansas on October 19.

Basinger’s House of Representatives district in Kansas is expected to remain safely Republican in the midterms. But Kansas faces an unexpectedly tight Senate race and ranchers in House districts elsewhere may find themselves closer to the political fray: potential swing districts in Montana, Iowa, Texas and Colorado are all in cattle country.

Still, it is unlikely that ranchers alone will decide elections: ranchers — along with farmers more broadly — represent a shrinking percentage of rural voters and a smaller voting bloc in practice than in the public imagination.

America’s cattle herd is near its smallest size since 1951 and the number of ranchers has declined alongside the number of livestock. Observers worry that ongoing uncertainty fuelled by tariffs, fuel prices and drought may cause the ranching population to shrink further.

David Anderson, an agricultural economist at Texas A&M University who advises ranchers, said that high prices this year should have given ranchers the confidence to invest in the future and expand their herds. Making imports cheaper, however, may have helped nudge ranchers in the opposite direction.

“It really works against the market signal to expand and produce more domestically,” Anderson said. “That got a lot of people pretty angry.”

Tariff changes add volatility

This is not the first time that Trump’s tariffs have impacted cattle supplies. Last year, the president added a 50 percent tariff on Brazil, a key trade partner for beef, raising the cost of importing Brazilian lean beef, which is often mixed with fatty US beef to make hamburger patties, a staple in most homes.

In February, Trump allowed more tariff-free beef imports from Argentina. In August, he did the same for Brazil and Paraguay.

Both tariff changes led to swift price swings in cattle futures markets, which are often volatile in response to the news cycle.

Cattle prices also moved this year in response to more fundamental drivers of supply and demand: plant closures by meatpackers, labour shortages late last month related to ICE actions at Kansas packing plants, the second-largest in the country, and the reopening of the southern border after a closure due to New World screwworm disease.

Big picture, the shrinking US cattle herd has less to do with short-term price changes and more to do with drought cycles, which are growing more intense as warming temperatures increase evaporation.

Still, tariff changes add uncertainty. “This has been a hot topic for the last six weeks,” said Anderson. “It just adds a little more uncertainty or volatility — or worries or stress.”

This year, extra price volatility as many ranchers prepared to sell meant ranchers faced lower profits and more risk.

Basinger says that for many established ranchers, the tariff announcement was frustrating, but not existential.

“People are upset. They have a right to be upset. But they’re not going to change their strategy,” he said. For most ranchers, Basinger said, the imports would not be the biggest factor shaping decisions about their herds this year.

Where price volatility may matter more, Basinger said, is for the next generation. Most of today’s ranchers are eyeing retirement. Their heirs must decide whether to make a go of ranching or sell their family’s land. Other aspiring ranchers are also watching the industry.

“If you’re seeing your dad not make money, or somebody else not make money…it’s not easy work!” Basinger said. “It has to be very enticing for somebody to want to jump in and be like, ‘I’m gonna be a rancher and go break ice in the middle of winter when it’s cold and I could be inside’.”

Record revenue and record costs

This year, low US cattle supplies meant that ranchers commanded record-high cattle prices, despite added imports and other market shifts.

But high revenue doesn’t always mean huge profits: Many ranchers operate at a loss for years in a row. Then, they rely on a few good years to pay down debts or expand their herds.

This year, profits were lower than hoped, because ranchers also faced high costs.

Interest rates on loans are high and the war with Iran meant ranchers paid extra for fuel and fertiliser. A drought across much of America’s ranchland meant they paid more for feed.

In states such as Kansas and Nebraska, ranchers also faced destructive wildfires and aid groups like Farm Rescue coordinated hay donations.

Still, Basinger said, ranchers who raise cows and calves generally did well this year. In Kansas, he is seeing ranchers use profits to make repairs and upgrades. He said this year’s high cattle prices have been helping. “But it needs to help for a little longer to give them more of an edge,” he said.

More of an edge might mean, for example, enough money for bigger purchases, like buying land from a neighbouring ranch to make room for a growing herd.

Rangeland, however, is increasingly expensive. When it is up for sale, outside investors can often pay more than ranchers, which can mean less land for cattle. That’s just one more pressure shrinking the US herd decade after decade.

Ranchers had hoped that 2026 would be a turnaround year. So far, however, “we really don’t have much evidence of herd expansion,” Anderson said.

Instead of running for office themselves, student-led assemblies at the country’s university faculties have chosen 250 candidates to stand in the parliamentary election, with Ilija Srdanović, professor at Novi Sad University, heading the list.

The Student List of candidates for parliament also includes doctors, actors, academics and sports personalities

“These are people that don’t know each other, you have no idea what their political beliefs are, and we now expect them to create a functioning government. So it’s anybody’s guess what happens after they win,” Korać says.

“On the other hand, if Vučić declares victory this evening, probably late in the evening, I don’t think the students will accept that.”

Korać suggests that many former Vučić loyalists in high office could change sides at the last moment, if the students win. A close result, however, with both sides claiming victory, could result in weeks or months of political instability.

The electorate is 6.45 million in a population of 6.53 million, raising concerns about the reliability of the electoral register. Serbs from Kosovo, and dual Serbian citizens from neighbouring Bosnia also have the right to vote.

Additional reporting by André Rhoden-Paul

Polls show another tight race between Lula and Bolsonaro leading into today’s election.

Israel is heading to the polls on October 27 in an election that could end Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s long grip on power.

The vote for all 120 seats in the Knesset is the first since the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, the onset of Israel’s subsequent genocidal war on Gaza and a wider conflict that has seen Israel carry out attacks in several countries across the region.

Opinion polls suggest his right-wing bloc is in a close race against a Jewish-led opposition alliance. But defeating Netanyahu at the ballot box does not necessarily mean removing him from power.

Israel’s proportional representation system means parties must negotiate alliances to secure a governing majority in the Knesset. No single party has ever won an outright majority of at least 61 seats.

According to recent polling, the opposition bloc is projected to win 52 seats, compared with 50 for Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist alliance. Palestinian-led parties could, therefore, determine who governs.

Here are eight possible outcomes:

Netanyahu forms another government

Despite slightly trailing in opinion polls, Netanyahu could remain prime minister if his Likud party assembles enough parliamentary support from existing allies or new coalition partners.

His traditional partners include far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party.

Ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism – which have previously joined his coalition multiple times but also walked away, most recently in 2025 – could also play an important role.

An opposition-led majority government

In late September, four opposition parties signed a non-aggression pact, agreeing to work together in a bid to unseat Netanyahu.

The rival movements – the Yashar party, the Democrats, the Yisrael Beytenu party and the Together alliance – said they are united in their goal to “preserve and strengthen Israel as a Jewish and democratic state”.

The bloc has not announced who would lead a future governing coalition, but former army chief Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party, is seen as its most likely prime ministerial candidate.

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who heads the Together alliance with Yair Lapid, is another potential candidate.

A coalition involving Ra’am

The Joint List and Ra’am – the two Arab-led parties representing the Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up about 20 percent of the population – are projected to win about 13 seats.

Ra’am, also known as the United Arab List, made history in 2021 by joining Bennett’s coalition, becoming the first Arab-led party to participate in an Israeli governing coalition.

Mansour Abbas, leader of Ra’am, has signalled a willingness to repeat that arrangement if the opposition-led alliance needs additional seats.

He has said his priorities include combatting the wave of violent crime that has been allowed to engulf Palestinian communities, as well as addressing discriminatory government policies, including on housing.

However, most opposition leaders, including Eisenkot, have ruled out such an alliance.

A minority government

If a coalition falls short of 61 seats, it could seek outside parliamentary support from other parties without including them in government, such as the Palestinian-led parties.

Joint List, which includes the Hadash, Ta’al and Balad factions, has said it could provide a so-called safety net to the anti-Netanyahu coalition by agreeing not to stand against it in a confidence vote, even if the alliance does not join the government. In return, it has said it would demand certain conditions, including a path to Palestinian statehood and fighting organised crime.

However, any such arrangement would leave the governing coalition vulnerable to defections and disputes over major policies.

A national unity government

A national unity government, according to Israel’s parliament, is a “government based on a broad coalition, the members of which also include representatives of rival parliamentary groups”.

This is usually formed at times of national emergencies, such as war, natural disasters or economic crises.

In May 2020, Netanyahu and Benny Gantz formed a unity government following three inconclusive elections. That agreement collapsed within a year.

However, in 2023, following the Hamas-led attacks on Israel, Gantz and members of his party joined Netanyahu’s coalition – seen as an emergency unity government – despite Gantz previously bitterly opposing it.

A rotating premiership

Two political leaders could agree to alternate as prime minister under a power-sharing arrangement.

Netanyahu and Gantz agreed to such a rotation in 2020, but their coalition collapsed before Gantz could take over.

Bennett and Lapid made the same arrangement for the prime minister’s office to change hands after the former came into power in June 2021. After Bennett’s coalition lost its parliamentary majority in June 2022, Lapid took over as caretaker prime minister in July that year.

A different prime minister from the same political camp

In Israel, the prime minister is voted in by members of the Knesset after an election.

If negotiations stall over forming a government, parties could agree to support another Knesset member from Netanyahu’s political camp or that of an opposition bloc, someone who is more acceptable to future partners.

No agreement – another election

If no leader can assemble sufficient support in the Knesset, Israel could face another period of political turbulence and head for a new election.

The country held five elections between 2019 and 2022 as rival blocs repeatedly struggled to form stable governments.

In such a scenario, Netanyahu would remain caretaker prime minister until a new administration took office.

Israel says it will close all land crossings with the occupied West Bank when it holds a general election on Tuesday.

Israel has said it will close all land crossings with the occupied West Bank on the day of its general election next week.

The Israeli army said in a statement early on Sunday that it would bar Palestinian workers from entering most areas of the West Bank from Sunday through Monday, and a full closure of crossings into and out of the territory will be enforced on Tuesday, the day of the Israeli vote.

The announcement comes a day after Israeli army imposed a lockdown in Hebron and displaced thousands of Palestinians from their homes.

It has conducted hundreds of raids since Friday’s attack by two Palestinian gunmen on an Israeli army reserve base, which killed two Israeli soldiers. The two Palestinians were also killed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a “full lockdown” of the occupied West Bank following the attack, while Defence Minister Israel Katz confirmed that “about 2,000” people had been displaced.

“They will not be allowed to return to their neighbourhood until we’ve finished dealing with all the Hamas issues in Hebron,” Katz said in an interview with public broadcaster Kan.

‘Complete blockade’

Hebron’s Mayor Yousef al-Ja’bari told Al Jazeera that the city of Hebron and several neighbouring villages were under a complete blockade.

He also said on Saturday that 2,200 people had been forced from their homes by Israeli troops and raids.

The Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank, has called for international pressure on Israel to protect Hebron’s residents, who said soldiers announced forced evacuation orders over loudspeakers late at night, leaving them with no time to prepare and few places to go.

The PA called Israel’s actions “collective punishment”, citing the demolition of homes, forced displacement of entire neighbourhoods, and the “closure and siege of Palestinian cities”.

About 200,000 Palestinians live in the city of Hebron, and a further 600,000 in Hebron governorate, making it the West Bank’s most populous area.

The Israeli military has said the operation will last several days.

But Netanyahu suggested bigger action was coming, saying he was planning an operation on a scale not seen since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967.

Netanyahu, Israel’s longest serving prime minister, is facing a tight race for a new term in Tuesday’s vote, and analysts say he is trying to capitalise on ongoing regional military conflicts and national security fears to anchor his re-election campaign.

Polls show populist leader Aleksandar Vucic in a tight race against the anticorruption and anti-authoritarian movement.

Serbians are voting in parliamentary elections amid a mass student protest ⁠movement that seeks to oust longtime populist leader Aleksandar Vucic, who has held power as prime minister and then president for more than a decade.

The snap elections, called by Vucic in September, follow almost two years of student-led demonstrations against perceived corruption ⁠and creeping authoritarianism, triggered by the deaths of 16 people when a train station canopy collapsed in the city of Novi Sad in 2024.

The students have since gained widespread support.

A loss for Vucic ⁠would mark a profound political shift in the Balkan country of some 6 million people, reminiscent of the defeat of Hungary’s Viktor Orban in April.

But Vucic, who resigned as president in September to run again for prime minister, is a strong incumbent. Many voters thank him for pulling Serbia out of economic obscurity and ‌orchestrating a period of sustained modernisation.

“The Serbian election ⁠is shaping up to be a watershed moment for the country as the Student List mounts the biggest challenge against Vucic yet,” Mario Bikarski, senior Europe analyst at risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, told the Reuters news agency.

During the campaign, Vucic has promised higher pensions and public sector salaries, investment in state healthcare, and subsidies for young couples. He has balanced closer ties with China, a major investor, and Russia, Serbia’s traditional ally and principal supplier of natural gas, while leaving the door open to joining the European Union.

But relations with the EU have frayed under his leadership, with the bloc growing increasingly frustrated over a lack of reforms addressing the judiciary, the rule of law and corruption.

The Student List movement’s agenda focuses on rooting out corruption and improving schooling, while saying little about their international ambitions.

Their roster of 250 largely unfamiliar candidates, including university professors, actors and farmers, is led by cardiologist Ilija Srdanovic.

Opinion polls are predicting a tight race.

An Ipsos poll published on Thursday gives Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party 47 percent ⁠of the vote to the students’ 40 percent, though other polls have put the students ahead.

Rights groups and activists say repression has worsened since the deadly train station canopy collapse, which was widely blamed on government corruption and sparked the student demonstrations.

About 150,000 supporters of the student movement rallied in central Belgrade on Thursday.

Vucic and his party have repeatedly denied accusations of repression, corruption and spying on their opponents.

The former president claims the students are funded by foreign agents in Croatia and Montenegro, a charge the students deny.

The two leading candidates condemn recent deadly Black Sea drone strikes but differ on the Ukraine war more broadly.

Bulgarians are voting in a presidential election amid the spread of Russia’s war on Ukraine to the waters off Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast.

Ahead of Sunday’s vote, President Iliana Iotova, 61, and ex-caretaker Prime ⁠Minister Andrey Gyurov, 50, were leading a field of 27 candidates in the polls.

⁠The presidency is a largely ceremonial post in Bulgaria. While major policies must be approved by Parliament, direct election gives the president greater political authority. The president leads the armed forces and can veto legislation, sign international treaties and appoint ambassadors.

The election has also gained attention after a series of drone attacks on merchant ships off Bulgaria’s coast that likely killed some two dozen international seafarers.

The drone strikes ‌sparked international condemnation and concerns about the growing reach of the war in Ukraine, prompting Bulgaria to seek allied assistance to bolster its maritime security.

The Bulgarian government has stopped short of explicitly blaming Russia for the attacks, but Prime Minister Rumen Radev said the outcome of the strikes “benefits the Russian Federation”.

Relations with Russia, West at stake

The two leading candidates for president have both condemned the strikes, but they differ on the broader war in Ukraine.

Gyurov, who served as caretaker prime minister this year, is backed by ⁠pro-Western, reformist parties and has long expressed support for Ukraine. He ⁠signed a security cooperation agreement with Kyiv during his time as premier.

“I want Bulgaria to have a voice of its own in Europe, a reliable NATO ally that defends its interests through preparedness, strong diplomacy and ⁠a clear position,” he said at a rally on Thursday.

Iotova, a former vice president, became acting president in January after Radev resigned to ⁠enter the parliamentary race, which he won on what many ⁠political analysts considered a Kremlin-friendly ticket.

Radev supports Iotova, and they both call for a diplomatic end to the war.

“My opponents argue that there must be ‌a war of attrition,” Iotova told a rally on Thursday. “The truth is, we are all the ones who are most exhausted.”

While there is a broad consensus among the parties in Parliament on the country’s pro-Western path, widespread pro-Russian sentiments based on traditional historical and cultural ties with Russia have divided society, particularly since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Dobromir Zhivkov, managing director of the Market Links polling agency, said Iotova is among those who advocate that Bulgaria take a more neutral position.

“They call for an end to aid for Ukraine and a halt to arms deliveries to Ukraine; we often hear them use Kremlin rhetoric and terminology borrowed directly from Kremlin propaganda,” he told The Associated Press news agency earlier this week.

Run-off vote expected

Candidates are also addressing public fears about the steep rise in energy prices and surging inflation, with many Bulgarians in rural areas struggling to make ends meet.

Polls by Alpha Research give Iotova 41 percent of the vote and ‌Gyurov ‌28 percent.

Voting starts at 7am (05:00 GMT), and polls close at 8pm (18:00 GMT).

Analysts expect none of the 27 candidates to secure the outright majority needed to win in the first round, however.

Turnout must also be above 50 percent of the 6.6 million registered voters, and Sunday’s turnout is expected to be less than 40 percent, which means a likely run-off on November 1.

Former US president says Trump ‘chose to make a series of bad decisions’, highlighting the US-Israel war on Iran.

Former United States President Barack Obama has criticised the “cruelty and corruption” during President Donald Trump’s second term.

Obama slammed Trump’s foreign policies on Saturday during a midterm election campaign rally in Ohio to support the state’s Democratic candidates.

“The current president chose to make a series of bad decisions,” the 65-year-old Democrat said. “Most importantly, he decided to start an unnecessary war that nobody asked for,” he added, referring to the US-Israel war on Iran.

Obama urged Ohioans to vote against the Republican administration, saying: “After two years of chaos and cruelty and corruption and incompetence, the likes of which we have not seen in the modern era, you get a chance to say, ‘Enough is enough’.”

Heated Ohio races

The former president also addressed the recent controversy in Ohio’s gubernatorial race surrounding an attack advertisement by Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy against Democrat Amy Acton.

“In recent days, we’ve seen there is no line he will not cross, no low he will not sink to,” Obama said of Ramaswamy. “I don’t know what’s happened where the standards of behaviour are so low that somebody could run an ad like that.”

In the advertisement, Donna Arthur, Acton’s mother, disputes her daughter’s account of a childhood involving homelessness and ⁠⁠⁠⁠sexual abuse by her stepfather, urging Ohioans not to vote for her.

Acton says she has not seen her mother since 1978. Acton’s brother has supported her account of being sexually abused by her stepfather when she was a child. The stepfather, who died in 2004, was charged with rape.

Obama backed Acton, saying that she has “spoken movingly about her painful childhood and all she’s experienced: abuse, neglect and homelessness.”

The former president shared the rally stage with Acton and Ohio’s former Democratic senator, Sherrod Brown, who will attempt a comeback against incumbent Republican Senator Jon Husted.

Polls give Democrats a slight lead in both Ohio races, but results are expected to be close.

Two years after United States voters delivered a stunning rebuke of the country’s Democratic Party by electing Republican President Donald Trump to a second nonconsecutive term, some of the party’s midterm candidates are reassessing stances on a host of hot-button issues.

Whether they have dialled it back on issues like transgender rights or ramped up efforts to oppose Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, Democrats in some of the toughest midterm battleground races are responding to voter concerns – or even breaking outright with party leadership.

Those shifts have resonated with some voters, while others have been alienated as the party tries to find its footing in Trump’s second term and wrestle away control of both houses of Congress from Republicans.

But in the time since Trump defeated former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, Democratic divisions have only grown deeper. Establishment and self-described moderates within the party have struggled to hold back a rising tide of progressive populism as voters increasingly demand stronger, bolder policies.

That movement, powered by groups like the Democratic Socialists of America, has forced a reckoning over what it means to be a Democrat in Trump’s second term, leading to significant differences among candidates on policies that often depend on where they are running.

Here’s how – and why – the party has shifted:

Democrats’ shifting views on Israel

The most notable shift among Democrats has, arguably, been on Israel.

Three years after Israel launched its genocidal war in Gaza and killed more than 74,000 Palestinians following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks, polls have suggested that Americans hold increasingly negative views on Israeli military actions.

A Pew Research Center survey conducted earlier this year suggested that 60 percent of US adults had an unfavourable opinion of Israel. That number is significantly higher – 80 percent – among US Democrats.

In response, some longtime Democratic supporters of Israel – including Senator Chris Coons, who is likely to chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee if Democrats retake control of the Senate next month – have shifted, as voters, especially younger ones, demand greater accountability from the US ally.

The moderate Delaware Democrat told Politico in an interview this month that he wants a “thorough reexamination” of the US-Israeli relationship and is even willing to impose sanctions on Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

It is a marked change in tone after Harris rejected calls to feature a Palestinian American speaker at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Earlier this year, 40 Democratic senators voted in support of a motion that disapproved proposed military sales to Israel. Only seven Democratic senators voted with Republicans to block it.

But as a new Congress may include even more progressive voices demanding the US rethink its relationship with Israel, those calls would likely be met with stiff resistance from some in the Democratic leadership, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The New York Democrat, who would likely become majority leader if Democrats retake the Senate, has said that the US “commitment to Israel’s security and defense must be ironclad”.

Have Democrats changed their positions on transgender rights?

Following years of attacks from Republicans, Democrats in tightly contested US House or Senate races have downplayed – or outright dismissed – support for the transgender community, mostly when it comes to the participation of transgender students in school sports.

In Ohio, Democratic Representative Marcy Kaptur ran an advertisement featuring her saying, “Boys should not play in girls’ sports”. And in North Carolina, Representative Don Davis released a television commercial in which the Democrat says there “should always be a safe and fair space for women and girls in sports”.

Next door in South Carolina, Democratic Senate candidate Annie Andrews, a doctor, said in a newly released advertisement that she opposes “biological men playing in women’s sports”.

Trump’s return to the White House was fuelled, in part, by a now-famous advertisement in the 2024 campaign that highlighted Harris’s support for transgender Americans.

“Kamala is for they/them,” a narrator said in the advertisement, referring to gender neutral pronouns used by some in the transgender and nonbinary community. “President Trump is for you.”

But the reassessment of transgender rights after the commercial’s airing is not taking place in every part of the party.

On Thursday at a “Students vs Billionaires” town hall in Portland, Maine, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez addressed concerns from a transgender college student who told the New York progressive that they felt “abandoned” by Democrats.

“They’re wrong”, Ocasio-Cortez said about some members of her party. “First and foremost, I want to just let you know how shameful and sorry I am that there are people out there that scare so easily after an election”.

The congresswoman added, “The moment you compromise the rights of a trans person in America, you compromise the rights of every citizen.”

What has changed on immigration and border security?

During former US President Joe Biden’s term, Democrats encountered near-daily attacks from Republicans on the country’s immigration system.

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded more than 8 million encounters at the US-Mexico border between 2021 and 2025, fuelling concerns among some voters that the Biden administration had ignored the issue.

In Texas’s closely watched Senate race, candidate James Talarico has positioned himself as a “border security Democrat”, advocating for stronger border enforcement and comprehensive immigration reform.

Third Way, a US-based organisation that pushes for moderate policies, said stances like Talarico’s resonate better with voters because they have taken a proactive, rather than a reactionary approach.

“I remember very clearly when Harris came out and spoke at the DNC in 2024; she… said we need order at the border and to have a strong immigration system”, Third Way’s senior political adviser, Lucas Holtz, told Al Jazeera.

“The problem is, after that, the Harris campaign really did not stick with that line in the sand… They stopped taking a stand on these issues, and more voters thought that she was too far to the left.”

“[Talarico] is making the case in a lot of his ads that the Biden administration failed on securing the border… It’s putting Republicans on their back foot in some of these races.”

But among progressives, Trump’s response to the nation’s immigration issue has also prompted a strong swing to the left.

After several high-profile incidents earlier this year – including federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota, shooting dead US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti  – calls to abolish, or drastically overhaul, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have gained momentum.

Left-leaning political groups and politicians have united behind a message of “abolish ICE”, which would dismantle the federal agency and end its enforcement authority.

Do Democrats support Medicare for All?

As cost-of-living issues remain paramount for voters, Democrats of all stripes have coalesced behind the need for more government intervention in the country’s healthcare system.

But how exactly the party addresses rising medical costs remains up for debate.

Some progressives, including Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, have championed policies like Medicare for All, which would expand the nation’s federal health insurance programme for seniors so all US citizens would be guaranteed healthcare.

Others running in more conservative states, like Andrews, have called for the return of Affordable Care Act subsidies that lapsed during Trump’s second term, as well as limits on health insurance companies’ profits.

Polling released by the independent health organisation KFF suggested that 66 percent of US adults now support Medicare for All, a 13-point increase from October 2020.

“Everybody’s going to have their own approach to this, but by and large, all Democrats want to move to a universal healthcare system in the best way possible”, Holtz said.

“We’re in agreement that we need to do better than what the Trump administration has done.”

President Lula da Silva rallied in Sao Paulo and Flavio Bolsonaro in Minas Gerais, on the eve of Sunday’s runoff election. The candidates are now polling at 50% each, according to a Datafolha poll.

The pivotal run-off will determine whether Brazilians stick with their left-wing leader or shift towards the right.

Brazil’s presidential candidates Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Flavio Bolsonaro have rallied thousands of supporters in a final show of campaign strength in advance of the country’s closely contested run-off election.

Donning a red hat, Lula addressed hundreds of supporters at Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach on Saturday, waving a Brazilian flag from a campaign truck as crowds gathered on the final day of campaigning.

“The people must choose either someone who kisses the national flag or someone who kisses the American flag”, the 80-year-old told the crowd as he referenced his opponent’s ties to US President Donald Trump.

Lula is seeking a fourth, non-consecutive term in Sunday’s run-off, which will task Brazilians with determining whether to stick with their incumbent left-wing leader or join a broader regional shift towards the right.

Bolsonaro, a senator and son of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, secured 47 percent of the vote in the first round, narrowly ahead of Lula’s 45 percent.

Recent polling shows Lula and the younger Bolsonaro remain about even on the eve of the pivotal election.

A CNT/MDA survey released on Saturday revealed Bolsonaro would receive 46.3 percent of the vote compared ⁠with 45 percent for the left-wing ⁠Lula. Last week, ⁠the poll showed a slightly closer race with Bolsonaro leading ⁠Lula 46.8 percent to ⁠45.9 percent.

The poll’s margin of error was 2.2 ‌percentage ‌points.

On Saturday, Bolsonaro’s supporters, including hundreds of motorcyclists wearing Brazil’s yellow national football shirts, gathered in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais.

One of those supporters, Ebert Dorigo, accused Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT) of encouraging dependence on government welfare, arguing a change in direction was needed for the country.

“The values we uphold are nation and family. Our country is divided today because, due to welfare-based policies, some people … haven’t grasped that improvement and achievement come only through hard work,” he told the news agency AFP.

The bitter campaign has exposed deep divisions over economic policy, crime and Brazil’s political future, which Bolsonaro has pledged to tackle with hundreds of thousands of more spots in prison and cuts to government spending.

His father, who served as president from 2019 to 2022, is serving a 27-year prison sentence for attempting a coup after losing that year’s election to Lula.

The two candidates struck a calmer tone during their final debate on Friday, although they traded accusations over the country’s economic difficulties and their respective records.

For some voters, however, the choice has been a difficult one.

“If there were any other candidate, that would be a better option,” Gabriela Ribeiro Viana, an event organiser, told AFP. “But we’re stuck choosing between the worst, the horrible, and the lesser evil”.

Opposition figures join Tel Aviv protesters demanding an independent October 7 inquiry.

Thousands of Israelis are protesting against the government and calling for an independent inquiry into the security failures that led to the October 7, 2023 attacks.

Demonstrators rallied in the public plaza known as Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on Saturday, three days before Israel’s first general election since the genocidal war on Gaza began.

The protest was organised by the October Council, a group founded by the families of captives taken to Gaza three years ago, to demand accountability for the government’s failure to prevent the Hamas attack that preceded the war.

“Three days before the election, we will hold the culminating event marking three years of struggle to uncover the truth, demand accountability and establish a state commission of inquiry,” the October Council wrote on X ahead of the rally.

Elsewhere in Israel, protesters were also gathering for antigovernment demonstrations, reported Haaretz newspaper.

Taking part were leading figures from opposition parties, including Gadi Eisenkot of the Yashar party, who is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main centre-right rival.

In Tel Aviv, Eisenkot was greeted by chants of “Who’s coming? The next prime minister”, according to The Times of Israel. The leader of the Democrats, Yair Golan, was also at the rally.

“Masses, masses of masses, flowing in the ‘Democrats’ march from Rabin Square to the Hostages Square – for change, for hope, for r-e-v-o-l-u-t-i-o-n. What energy. This time it’s ours completely!”, Israeli citizen and lawyer Dan Adin posted on X.

Polls ahead of Tuesday’s election suggest a tight race, with Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc, in power since late 2022, neck and neck with Eisenkot’s. Neither bloc is currently projected to obtain a majority of seats in Israel’s parliament.

The election could be pivotal in determining whether Israel launches another round of strikes on Iran. Eisenkot is believed to be less inclined to resume military action against Tehran if he becomes Israel’s next prime minister.

However, on most other foreign policy issues, leading Israeli parties and politicians remain united, including in their opposition to the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

Ahead of the protest, the October Council alerted law enforcement to possible “provocations” from pro-government agitators.

“We have sent an urgent letter to the Police Commissioner following alerts about attempts by entities linked to the coalition to disrupt tonight’s rally,” it wrote on X.

The October Council aims to hold Israeli officials deemed responsible for the October 7 attacks to account and deliver justice for affected families.

Netanyahu’s coalition government, however, has refused demands to establish an independent commission of inquiry. Instead, it has offered to set up a “political” commission. Half of the commission’s members would be appointed by the government, while the remainder would be appointed by opposition legislators.

Opposition leaders have said they would boycott a commission appointed by politicians.

The race between Brazil’s president and the right-wing senator has tightened in recent days.

⁠Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula ⁠da Silva and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro remain about even on the eve of Sunday’s election run-off, shows a CNT/MDA poll.

The right-wing ‌senator, the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, would receive 46.3 percent of the vote compared ⁠with 45 percent for the leftist ⁠Lula, according to the poll released on Saturday. Last week, ⁠the poll showed Bolsonaro leading ⁠Lula 46.8 percent to ⁠45.9 percent.

MDA surveyed 2,032 people from October 21 to ‌October 23, with a margin of error of 2.2 ‌percentage ‌points.

The poll comes the day after the final debate before the presidential run-off.

The candidates questioned each other on Friday about Brazil’s economy, infrastructure and regional development.

Bolsonaro accused the incumbent of allowing organised crime to expand, driving families into debt and not addressing the higher cost of living.

“He doesn’t know what hunger is,” Brazil’s first working-class president said of Bolsonaro. “He doesn’t know Brazil.”

Sunday’s vote comes after Bolsonaro finished first in the initial round of voting on October 4 with 47 percent to Lula’s 45 percent.

A Datafolha institute survey published on Thursday suggested the pair are now tied with 50 percent support each, compared with Bolsonaro’s four-point lead in polls published two weeks ago.