Vucic concedes in Serbia, Bolsonaro flees to US after Brazil loss as Trump's ratings sink

Election results in Serbia, Brazil and Israel, and the falling popularity of US President Donald Trump ahead of the midterm elections, clearly indicate that right-wing politics is being rejected. People are angry over corruption and are giving preference to a strong economy.

In Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, the strongman who has held power for a long time, has conceded defeat in the national parliamentary election. He announced that the opposition "Student List" had won an absolute majority in parliament. Addressing the nation after the initial results, Vucic acknowledged the electoral setback to the ruling party on the basis of a sample vote count.

It was a closely fought election, with heavy voting and rising tension. The contest pitted President Vucic and his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party against student-led groups. The students have won wide public support. They had accused the government of corruption and of weakening democratic institutions.

In Brazil, voters showed right-wing presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro the door. Right after the results, he fled to the United States, fearing jail over corruption allegations. His self-chosen exile in the US is no surprise, because the Trump administration has close ties with both Flavio and his father Jair Bolsonaro. Jair Bolsonaro is under house arrest in the country after failed attempts to overturn his 2022 election defeat to Lula.

Bolsonaro's defiant announcement reflects the continuing political instability in Brazil, where the incumbent left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won the runoff decisively. Early on Wednesday, Bolsonaro landed with his wife and daughters on a private plane at Opa-locka Executive Airport in Miami. Trump again said Brazil's electoral process was "very strange", but on Bolsonaro's claim to the presidency he told the media he would "not interfere". Concrete details of how Bolsonaro reached the US are still emerging.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing Likud party are also in difficult circumstances. Hundreds of Israelis took to the streets in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa and demanded the formation of a Jewish-Arab government. Protesters carried placards with slogans such as "Freedom for all, from the river to the sea" and "Yes to a Jewish-Arab government". The protests show a shared demand for an inclusive government. Netanyahu tried every possible way to woo voters, even playing the card of a fake nuclear attack on Israel by Iran, yet he did not secure a clear mandate.

The situation is no different in the United States. More and more Americans are asking the president why taxpayers' money should be spent on the Iran war being fought for Israel. Ahead of the midterms, Trump's approval rating is at a historic low. In the national polling average, about 36 to 37 per cent of people approve of his work, while about 61 per cent disapprove. Inflation, shrinking purchasing power and soaring fuel prices have left Americans deeply angry with the ruling establishment.