EUobserver

Elections

Israel’s election may disappoint everyone, as Brussels and Washington face a hard reckoning with a more ‘centrist’ leader
25 October 2026 by Amanda Pilz
It’s comforting to imagine an Israeli government formed by anyone left of Benjamin Netanyahu will steer instinctively towards international expectations. But a more centrist Israeli government, like any elected government anywhere, will operate within the political space created by the policy priorities and the empathetic capacity of its voters. There isn’t much room for Palestinians.
[Interview] Ousting Netanyahu won’t curb right-wing Israeli nationalism, says expert ahead of Tuesday’s Knesset elections
23 October 2026 by Dominika Píhová
Beth Oppenheim, fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, explains how a shift in Israeli society will shape voting on 27 October. Her analysis groups Israeli political forces into liberal Zionists, nationalists, religious nationalists, and ultra-Orthodox factions.
- Elections
- Israel
Serbia’s election: can a student-led movement of hope overcome Vučić’s hollowed-out political system?
22 October 2026 by Petra Pavlovičová
Sunday’s vote could reshape the country’s political future. But even a breakthrough for the student movement would leave a deeper question: can democratic change take root in institutions that protesters say have been hollowed out?
‘Project Fear’ didn’t work, so why do we keep demonising far-right and left voters?
21 October 2026 by Benjamin Fox1 Comment
My beef with both far-right and far-left populists is that they’re false prophets.
In Europe, at least, the squeezes on public services, high taxes, debt burdens and crippling costs of living are legacies of the Covid pandemic, wars in Ukraine and Iran and a eurozone crisis that was never fully resolved. These can’t be wished away, and they won’t be cured with caps on immigration, higher taxes on the rich or the promise of earlier retirement.
‘I’m 42 and I’ve spent my entire adult life held captive by Bibi’ – can Israel finally break free of Netanyahu, as Hungary did of Orbán?
21 October 2026 by Tibor Dessewffy1 Comment
Benjamin Netanyahu has not been Israel’s prime minister for every one of those years. Yet even out of office, Israeli politics rarely escaped his gravitational pull. Hungarians know something about that feeling.
PM Babiš blames press for ANO election loss, renews calls to abolish license fees for Czech public media
20 October 2026 by Eva Soukeníková, Kristýna Jelínková, Filip Zelenka and Ondřej Kundra
Andrej Babiš vows no policy retreat after ANO’s election flop. With the opposition gaining ground in a weekend senate vote in Czech Republic, the prime minister has moved to scrap public media license fees.
- Czech Republic
- Elections
Why Spain’s Left missed the chance to unite ahead of November’s snap election
19 October 2026 by Elena Sánchez Nicolás
Spain’s Left has missed its last chance to unite ahead of the snap election on 29 November — a historic failure, not so much because the numbers don’t add up, but because it now fails to offer an alternative.
Listen: What would a coalition of right and far-right in Spain mean for Europe?
9 October 2026 by Léa Marchal
Spain is heading for early elections, after Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called a snap vote last week. According to current polls, the conservative People’s Party, or PP, is ahead of Sánchez’s Socialists, while Vox is also making significant gains. What would happen if they governed together?
Putin and Vučić dominate Bosnia elections, as EU fades out of view
5 October 2026 by Petra Pavlovičová
Last elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina might prove that Russia’s influence is more broadly spread than the EU’s.
Spain’s 54-day sprint to the polls: can Sánchez’s housing gamble stop the far-right from entering into government?
5 October 2026 by Elena Sánchez Nicolás
Spain’s Pedro Sánchez has called snap elections for 29 November, after parliament rejected his housing decrees, giving him a hot-button political issue for his election platform. But polls favour the opposition centre-right People’s Party, which may need the far-right Vox to govern. And the loss of Sánchez would be a big blow for the centre-left in Brussels.
Trump cheers Bolsonaro Jr’s advance on Lula in Brazil, but EU fears for Mercosur alliance
5 October 2026 by Tomáš Čorej
Flávio Bolsonaro is the favourite to defeat president Lula in the second round of Brazil’s presidential elections, which could mean disaster for EU-Latin America relations.
- Brazil
- Elections
Latvian PM holds onto power as Russia-Ukraine war shapes election
4 October 2026 by Andrew Rettman
Despite its ordinary conduct, Russia’s war still shaped Latvia’s election in a new normal for Europe that most of us had hardly imagined just five years ago.
French far-right leader Bardella denies writing antisemitic messages
2 October 2026 by Zuzanna Stawiska
Jordan Bardella, a leader of the French far-right National Rally, has denied writing antisemitic messages in 2013.
- Elections
- France
Why young men are drawn to the far right and young women to the far left
2 October 2026 by Magdaléna Fajtová1 Comment
Gender now splits the youngest voters more than class or education. Many young men feel sidelined by a shifting balance and vote far-right while young women vote far-left.
[Interview] Le Pen and Mélenchon are ‘economically illiterate’ and weaponising migration, says French scholar ahead of 2027 race
1 October 2026 by Denisa Ballová
French political scientist Jacques Rupnik says the economic illiteracy of Marine Le Pen and Mélenchon is astonishing. He anticipates that in the first round of France’s presidential election, most voters will back a candidate they believe can stop Le Pen. A Mamdani moment could happen, since people feel that politics has exhausted itself.
- Elections
- France
Germany offers a warning for Europe ahead of 2027 election year: the Putin/Trump security crisis won’t necessarily save the political centre
21 September 2026 by Catherine De Vries
Mainstream parties might assume that this new age of insecurity will work in their favour. But If Europe’s security environment continues to deteriorate as voters head to the polls in 2027, mainstream leaders should not assume that geopolitics will do the political work of containing the far-right for them.
Merz ‘fighting for political survival’ as AfD takes another state and The Left wins Berlin
21 September 2026 by Soňa Weissová
Chancellor Friedrich Merz spoke to press just minutes after polls revealed massive CDU losses. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the party failed to make the five-percent threshold. In Berlin, where the party had held power, it was thrashed by the Left.
- Elections
- Germany
[Interview] Why does Putin bother with elections when everybody knows they are a sham? Russia expert explains weekend vote – and how it may escalate war
20 September 2026 by Mirek Tóda
The Kremlin is hoping for a high voter turnout and a convincing United Russia win, expert Filip Scherf explains.
Berlin election shows how the EU turns its most mobile citizens into second‑class voters
18 September 2026 by Matt Bristow3 Comments
European law gives EU citizens the right to vote in municipal elections, but this does not extend to state or national elections, for which Germany reserves voting rights to German citizens. This results in an odd discrepancy even within a single member state.
German chancellor hopes for election gains this Sunday — but CDU may lose votes and Merz his job
17 September 2026 by Simone Radačičová
With far-right and far-left forces poised to take votes from the Christian Democrats, pressure is building on German chancellor Friedrich Merz. Sunday’s state elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania could make or break the leader’s prospects of political survival.