Australia, Brazil, Malaysia and Colombia all voted in reformist governments this year, after years of corrupt conservative right wing rule. Progressive governments were returned with strong mandates in Portugal, Malta and Denmark. Women were elected national leaders for the first time in Italy, Slovenia and Peru.
Important national elections were held this year in 16 countries, including five G20 nations. Of these, ten saw a change of administration while six endorsed the incumbent.
Several elections resulted in minority governments. Most of these appear more representative of citizens’ aspirations than may have been the case with a sweeping one party majority.
Although there was a shift to the right in South Korea, Sweden and Israel, none represents a victory for hard line, authoritarian ideology.
Elections of particular significance
In an historic first for Colombia, Gustavo Petro of the reformist Humane Colombia party won the June presidential election. The tropical South American nation is now emerging as a stable democracy after generations of internal armed conflict.
In Brazil, prominent trade unionist and former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the October presidential election against right wing President Jair Bolsonaro, if narrowly.
Fevered predictions in the malicious Murdoch press and elsewhere of a Trump-style denial of Brazil’s election result and widespread protests were fortunately false.
A coalition of right-wing parties won the majority of seats in Italy’s national elections in September. As discussed here, Giorgia Meloni became Italy’s first woman prime minister. It is still early, but indications are that she will continue the collaborative neoliberal approach of her predecessor, Mario Draghi.
Malaysians elected Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister in November, after his predecessor Ismail Sabri Yaakob called a snap general election following years of instability.
Ibrahim’s extraordinary political career began in the mid 1960s and has included many years in prison on what many believe to be trumped-up charges. As leader of the centre-left Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) coalition he has vowed to unify the fractured country and end corruption.
Slovenians voted for a new centre-left government in April. They followed that in November by electing independent human rights lawyer Nataša Pirc Musar as President, Slovenia’s first woman in that role.
Australia sacks the Tories – at last!
After almost nine years of manifest incompetence and corruption, the Coalition of the National and Liberal Parties was resoundingly defeated in May.
Australians voted decisively for Anthony Albanese’s reformist Labor Government, simultaneously endorsing the Greens and progressive independents.
US mid-terms
Although not presidential elections, the recent mid-term contests are important because of America’s global power and the extraordinary state of violent dystopia it is experiencing.
The Democratic Party stunned observers – and themselves – by losing no Senate seats and gaining one, thus securing a majority. This is the first time since 1934 that the president’s party has held all its Senate seats in a mid-term election.
Another positive was that former President Trump’s preferred candidates performed particularly badly, confirming his diminishing power.
Rupert Murdoch’s demise as kingmaker
This year saw humiliating defeats for News Corp’s once-influential media outlets. Several of them campaigned viciously against Anthony Albanese’s Labor Opposition in Australia, Dan Andrews’ Labor Government in Victoria, and the Democrats in the American mid-terms. Their preferred parties all performed poorly.
Will this trend towards progressive governments continue? Will more women emerge as national leaders? Will more coalitions eventuate?
Elections next year in India, Argentina, Spain, Poland, Austria, Switzerland and Turkey may answer these questions. Meanwhile, we can draw more hope than despair from ballots in 2022.
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This is an abbreviated version of an article published today in Independent Australia. The original article is available here in full for free:
independentaustralia.net/...
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