The outcomes of Sunday’s elections in Brazil and Serbia created splashes whose ripples spread far. At first glance, they seem contextually poles apart—with Brazil returning an 80-year-old incumbent to a historic fourth term, and a students’ movement in Serbia deposing a 56-year-old strongman who had led the country for 14 years. The common factor was the two electorates’ fightback against attempts to unfairly influence the popular mandate. At a time when people’s faith in democracy around the world is in tatters, the elections show ways to mend the fabric.
In Brazil, Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva staged an unprecedented comeback after narrowly losing the first round of elections on October 4 to Flávio Bolsonaro, whose father is serving a 27-year jail sentence for trying to stage a coup against Lula 3.0. Throughout the campaign, the country’s courts and rights bodies noted a tilt in favour of the Trump-friendly challenger on the part of US-based platforms such as Meta. On Sunday, Bolsonarist local leaders’ attempts to suppress turnout by throttling bus services were met with people arranging alternative transport and a Supreme Court justice extending voting by two hours. The Bolsonaro camp is refusing to accept defeat, alleging illegality in allowing more people to vote. But even before Sunday, Eduardo Bolsonaro had taken a leaf out of the Trump playbook and advised his elder brother Flávio against conceding if he lost.
If a late social media outrage contributed to a last-minute swing in Brazil, online platforms were the main tools of organisation for Serbia’s Student List platform, which channelled the anger from earlier street protests against corruption into selecting fresh candidates who swept aside the country’s traditional opposition, too. One slogan that reverberated online was “It’s either Serbia or mafia”, referring obliquely to Putin-backed President Aleksandar Vučić’s control over the country’s media. Unlike in Brazil, the leader conceded when it became clear that the students’ picks would win a majority.
But the business of democracy does not end with counting the votes. Serbia, where the students deliberately refrained from electing leaders to avoid targeted clampdowns, will now have to select a few to govern. On the other hand, Brazil’s future hangs in the balance amid the legal wrangle between now and January. For now, both countries have shown that voters today may have to try a bit harder to be heard above the noise seeking to drown out their voices.