Elections in Europe and Iran show authoritarian march may have slowed, not halted

AP News-July9th2024

LONDON (AP) — At first glance, elections in France and Britain were a triumph for leftists and reformers over authoritarians and the right.

Even Iran — where Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say on all matters of state — elected Masoud Pezeshkian, a lawmaker long associated with the reformist movement.

In France, a leftist coalition beat the far right into third place in legislative elections. The U.K.’s center-left Labour Party swept back to power in a landslide after 14 years of Conservative rule. Iranian voters, offered a limited choice in a circumscribed presidential election, opted for the more moderate of two candidates to replace the late hard-liner Ebrahim Raisi.

But with voters in many countries still divided and disillusioned against a backdrop of economic gloom, analysts say the march of the right may only have been slowed, not halted.

“This is a crisis delayed, not averted,” said Eurasia Group analyst Mujtaba Rahman of the outcome in France, where voters repudiated the far-right National Rally — but also turned their ire on centrist President Emmanuel Macron, who called the surprise election. Macron’s centrist grouping ended in second place after Sunday’s second round of voting, ahead of the far-right National Rally.