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Two years after the Novi Sad tragedy gave birth to a youthful political movement, Sunday’s remarkable election has taken the country into a new era This weekend it will be two years since the collapse of a shoddily constructed train station canopy in Serbia’s second city, Novi Sad. The tragedy , killing 16 people, was swiftly attributed to state corruption and failures of regulation, sparking student-led protests across the country. Some of those demonstrators dared to imagine that they could become the catalyst for a democratic revolution. Continue reading...

Democrats should remember that throughout American history, it has seldom been easy to turn the perceived corruption of one party into an electoral advantage for the other. That is because voters tend to see both parties — and politics itself — as corrupt.

Israeli parliamentary elections are being held on Tuesday, the first since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack and Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is currently embroiled in a corruption scandal in Israel, is up for reelection. On Friday, after two Israeli soldiers were killed at a checkpoint near Hebron, just days before Israeli polls are set to open, Netanyahu announced heavy restrictions on the movement of Palestinians out of the West Bank. Since then, Israeli forces have detained and expelled thousands of Palestinian residents from the area and begun home demolitions to clear the way for future Israeli settlements. “The reason that they’re doing this is because this entire election is about who is going to be tougher on Palestinians,” says Palestinian human rights lawyer Diana Buttu. “What [Netanyahu is] trying to do in the lead-up to this is say to Israelis that ’I’m the only person who can provide you with security.’ So, while lighting the place on fire, he’s also selling water.” Buttu explains that Netanyahu’s opponents across the Israeli political spectrum are equally punitive toward Palestinians. “The fact that you have all of these parties that are advocating major war crimes and nobody is blinking says something very deep about Israeli society, but also about an international community that has fostered this and that has allowed this to brew for all of these years.”

No election outcome ever interprets itself. So how will Democrats interpret these results once they are known? Whichever metaphor one prefers – landslide, earthquake, wave – it seems increasingly like the Democrats can expect a significant victory in the midterms . As the joke goes, every gas station display of prices has become an ad for Democrats; what’s more, some of them have managed to connect the relatively abstract issue of corruption to the daily misery of many Americans. Continue reading...

The Student List movement is taking on authoritarian leader following nearly two years of protests against government and institutional corruption What is at stake in Serbia’s election? The latest turnout projection by Ipsos/Cesid suggests a turnout of 60.8% by 5pm local time (4pm UK), with three hours still to go until the polling stations close. That’s more than 13 percentage points higher than in 2023, and would be the highest turnout since mid-2000s. “ What hasn’t motivated me? There isn’t a single reason I could give that would keep me from showing up at my polling station at 6:20 in the morning.” Continue reading...

Serbians go to polls to decide whether longtime strongman Aleksandar Vucic will return as prime minister or be ousted by unprecedented student-led opposition that wants to crack down on graft and boost democracy.

Serbia goes to the polls this weekend, as a student-led protest movement tries to oust the illiberal ruling party that’s widely regarded as corrupt.

Washington Examiner columnist Guy Benson said Democrats were smart to use anti-corruption messaging in campaigns despite ignoring corruption within their own party. “It’s actually very smart and savvy politically for the Democrats to be going down this route and at least using this talking point,” Benson said Tuesday on Fox Business’s Big Money in the […]