Serbia and Brazil Both Vote Tomorrow in Tight Contests
Two consequential elections fall on Sunday. In Serbia a leaderless student movement is level with the party that has governed since 2012; in Brazil nearly 159 million voters decide a presidential run-off that polls have tied. Neither result will be known before Sunday night.
Serbia’s student list grew out of almost two years of protest after a railway station canopy collapsed at Novi Sad, killing sixteen. Its 250 candidates were chosen by university assemblies, none has held office, and it has deliberately refused a leader, so the cardiologist at the top of the list would not automatically become prime minister. Aleksandar Vucic resigned the presidency, being barred from a third term, to stand for prime minister instead. In Brazil the run-off follows a first round on 4 October in which Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of the former president, led Lula da Silva by 47% to 45%. Lula is eighty and seeking a fourth non-consecutive term; most analysts make his opponent a narrow favourite, and since democracy returned in the 1980s no candidate who lost the first round has come back to win. Tens of thousands of his supporters filled Copacabana beach today. Both counts should report on Sunday evening.