Good elections are uplifting for the soul, even if the results may be disappointing for some. In a good number of instances, elections can be cathartic for nations which may have for a long time waited patiently for change.
The recent presidential election in Brazil has been cathartic not only for Brazilians but also for liberals around the world. The vote has brought Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva back to office as the country's president, a happening which must now lead, despite a conservative Congress ready to block his reform measures, to a restoration of values so rudely upended by Jair Bolsonaro in the last few years.
The assault on the Amazon forest will be stopped, the rights of Brazil's indigenous people will have a reassertion, and Covid-19 deniers will be pushed out of the corridors of power. That is where the cathartic comes in. And it is a feeling which arises in people who have also been watching the rise of the Left in countries such as Colombia, Peru, Chile and Bolivia, where politicians unwilling to pander to urban-based elitism have triumphed at elections.
Just how consequential elections can be is to be observed in the renewed confidence in America's Democrats now that the mid-terms are over. The so-called red wave many -- and among them were all those 2020 election-denying Trumpistas -- had been predicting, did not come to pass. The Democrats have kept control of the Senate, have been giving the Republicans nail-biting nervousness over the eventual results of the vote for the House of Representatives and have beaten back a good number of Republican challengers seeking to defeat Democrat gubernatorial candidates.
All of this has fortified President Joe Biden, for contrary to expectations and despite his low poll ratings, these results have been far better than what some of his recent Democrat predecessors achieved during their own mid-terms in office. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were both deflated by the shellacking, as Obama put it, the Democrats got in the mid-terms.
Joe Biden, renewed in vigour, now looks forward to a second term in the White House. In case you have missed it, he has looked every bit presidential at the recent ASEAN and G-20 summits in Phnom Penh and Bali, in that order.
But, of course, some elections have been rather disappointing, if not exactly disturbing, for people around the globe. The return of Binyamin Netanyahu to power in Israel conveys a cold message: The search for a solution to the Palestine issue is now dead, and that illegal Jewish settlements on occupied Arab land will continue.
Netanyahu's victory has less to do with the policies he means to pursue in power and more with the inability of his rivals to forge a strong coalition to keep him and his followers at bay. Yair Lapid and his coalition partners were unable to devise the strategy that would keep them in office.
Move over to Europe, where Giorgia Meloni now heads a far-right government in Italy. She has been moving cautiously, so far, and has tried to convince her partners in the European Union that she is not about to upset the cart with her policies.
Even so, many remain skeptical about the immediate future of Italian politics given that Meloni presides over a government that is historically close to the regime headed by Benito Mussolini in the years leading up to the end of the Second World War.
The results of elections in Israel and Italy notwithstanding, the truth remains that clean, good and transparent elections anywhere are a boost to people who believe in power being exercised through the consent of the governed. Furthermore, elections in a democracy are but a fresh new strengthening of democracy because voters then have the opportunity to judge political leaders and parties on the merit of policies they have on offer for them.
Elections bring about a symbiotic relationship between people and politicians. Where such a relationship is absent or goes missing or snaps or is impeded, democracy takes a mauling.
Malaysians will soon be going for new elections. It will be an event to watch out for, a good reason being a rekindling of ambition in Anwar Ibrahim to take charge of the country. He would have been prime minister long ago had Mahathir Mohamed not gone out of his way to thwart his plans. In the end, it was Mahathir who had his comeuppance.
Circumstances showed him the door.
In France, the talented and young Emmanuel Macron, having beaten the far-right's Marine Le Pen at the last election, remains busy trying to ensure a dominant role for his country in Europe. Macron is reputed for the sheer scale of his intelligence and grasp of global issues in the way Clinton and Obama are.
He does not say so, but all his acts are grounded on the idea of French grandeur defined and outlined decades ago by Charles de Gaulle. Where De Gaulle withdrew the French from Algeria, Macron has gone ahead with offering apologies to Algerians for the sufferings they endured under French rule.
Elections are a constant demand from Britain's Labour Party. The Tories do not have to agree until their term ends in two years, but having had five prime ministers in six years has certainly shaken up the government.
Opinion polls speak of a resounding Labour victory were the election to be held today. For now Labour need to hold on to their position, both in poll numbers and in policy formulation, until the elections are called.
A good election is a reflection of the maturity of voters in that they are required to study the policies of political parties, reflect on them, form their opinions before they cast their ballots on the day of the election. Again, elections need to be credible, for that is a powerful sign of how politicians and political parties have reached a process of enlightenment in an understanding of their nations' needs.
Election campaigns are conducted in decency through politicians giving the electorate their alternative visions of the statecraft they mean to promote in office. A good election is never held in acrimony, in language laughable and ludicrous.
Donald Trump and his followers, unable to foresee the consequences of their negativism over the voting process, have in these new mid-terms only damaged themselves. Their sneering and inability to uphold universally accepted norms of electioneering, their petulant refusal to congratulate those emerging victorious at the ballot box have done them in.
In recent times, the people of the Philippines elected Ferdinand Marcos Jr to the presidency. Likewise, the people of South Korea elected Yoon Suk-yeol as their new leader. No one complained of vote rigging. No one challenged the results of these elections. No voters were intimidated at the polling centres.
That is the beauty of elections. Every good election is an improvement on the one preceding it. Every good election is, therefore, a buttressing of the democratic and constitutional foundations of a state.
Syed Badrul Ahsan is a journalist and biographer.
