Anne Applebaum: “A nationalist’s narrow victory in Poland offers a preview of many knife-edge contests to come, all across the democratic world.”

“Lee Jae-myung of the center-left Democratic Party won the South Korean presidential election on Wednesday, riding a wave of anger against former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his People Power Party after months of political turmoil,” the New York Times reports.

“South Koreans are set to finally choose a new president after the nation’s worst constitutional crisis in decades,” Bloomberg reports.

“Right-wing candidate Karol Nawrocki is leading centrist Rafał Trzaskowski by 51 percent to 49 percent in Poland’s presidential election, according to a final exit poll released early Monday morning,” Politico reports.

“The country’s electoral commission says final results of the vote count will be announced later on Monday.”

Washington Post: Poles vote in tight presidential race with Trump backing one candidate.

“Poland’s knife-edge presidential race has become the latest battleground for the global populist right, with Donald Trump’s allies warning that defeat in Warsaw could sap Trumpist momentum across Europe after recent election losses to moderates in Romania and Canada,” the Financial Times reports.

“One spent more than five years in a U.S. prison for trying to smuggle meth. Another was embroiled in a scandal involving journalists shot dead. At least four have faced investigations for offenses like sexual abuse or organized crime,” the New York Times reports.

“These are just a few of the candidates vying for judgeships and magistrate posts in Mexico’s first-ever judicial elections on Sunday, which are set to transform the nation’s judiciary, including the Supreme Court.”

“Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem urged Poles to vote for the nationalist opposition candidate in Sunday’s presidential election, wading into a tightly-contested campaign that threatens to derail efforts to rebuild the country’s democratic institutions,” Bloomberg reports.

“In a setback for Europe’s surging nationalist forces, Nicusor Dan, a centrist mayor and former mathematics professor, on Sunday won the presidential election in Romania, defeating a hard-right candidate who is aligned with President Trump and has opposed military aid to Ukraine,” the New York Times reports.

“With more than 98 percent of ballots counted, preliminary official results gave 54% of the vote in the presidential runoff to Mr. Dan, 55, the mayor of Romania’s capital, Bucharest. His opponent, George Simion, a nationalist and fervent admirer of Mr. Trump who had been widely seen as the front-runner, drew only 46%.”

“Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was almost certain to be elected mayor of his home city by a landslide on Monday, unimpeded by his detention at the International Criminal Court on charges of murder as a crime against humanity,” CNN reports.

“With 80% of votes counted in an unofficial tally, Duterte, who was brought to The Hague in March over his bloody ‘war on drugs’ that killed thousands of people, was winning the Davao mayoral contest with eight times more votes than his nearest rival.”

Canada’s Liberals are now just two seats short of an outright parliamentary majority after a recount in a Quebec riding gave Liberal candidate a win by just one vote, the BBC reports.

“Friedrich Merz won a second-chance vote to become Germany’s chancellor on Tuesday afternoon, rebounding from a morning defeat in Parliament that threatened to hobble the next government before it was sworn into office,” the New York Times reports.

The Guardian: “Given the earlier events, the coalition’s celebrations are somewhat subdued, but they are clearly relieved.”

“Friedrich Merz will make another attempt to secure parliamentary backing as Germany’s next chancellor on Tuesday after his humiliating shock loss in an initial vote,” Bloomberg reports.

“The conservative leader fell short of a majority earlier in the day in a secret ballot in the Bundestag that was meant to confirm him as the head of a ruling coalition of his center-right CDU/CSU bloc and the center-left Social Democrats.”

“It was the first time since World War II that an incoming chancellor failed to secure enough support from lawmakers on the first attempt, preventing Merz from taking over from outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz as planned and pitching Europe’s biggest economy into uncharted territory.”

“Chris LaCivita, a key strategist in Trump’s 2024 campaign, is advising Sali Berisha, a former Albanian prime minister facing corruption charges,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
 
“LaCivita’s involvement in Albania includes rallies, TV ads and meetings, making him a central figure in the upcoming May 11 election.”
 
“LaCivita has recruited other Trump advisers and is using Trump-like messaging, blaming the current prime minister for rising prices and focusing on inflation.”

“Germany faced a political crisis on Tuesday after Friedrich Merz, the winner of the recent election, failed to secure enough support in parliament to be confirmed as the country’s next chancellor in a first round of voting,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The outcome of the vote has no precedent in postwar Germany and came despite Merz’s proposed coalition holding a relatively comfortable 12-seat majority in the house.”

Bloomberg: “Stunned lawmakers initially huddled in groups in the chamber, wondering what the next steps would be, while television commentators were also at a loss.”

Reuters: Germany’s Merz fails to be elected chancellor in shock first-round vote.

“Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, never styled himself as an anti-Trump figure in his pitch for re-election,” the New York Times reports.

“He said that he trusted President Trump, and that he respected the United States’ democratic process. He rarely invoked Mr. Trump by name, redirecting questions about him to discussions of budget surpluses or a comment that he was focused on Australia. He was measured and opaque in any criticisms of Mr. Trump, and vowed not to retaliate against his tariffs.”

“But the global tumult set off by Mr. Trump’s return to power made him a factor in Australia’s election. And in the end, Mr. Albanese and his center-left Labor Party appear to have been bolstered by a wave of anti-Trump sentiment, pulling off a stunning landslide victory on Saturday.”

The Guardian: Trump says he is ‘very friendly’ with Albanese but has “no idea” who ran against him.

“The Trump factor is shaping global politics, one election at a time — just not necessarily to the president’s taste,” the New York Times reports.

“In major votes in Canada and Australia over the past two weeks, centrists saw their fortunes revived, while parties that had borrowed from the MAGA playbook lost out.”

“President Trump has been back in power for only three months, but already his policies, including imposing tariffs and upending alliances, have rippled into domestic political battles around the world.”

Sam Freedman: “These results were bad for Labour, but they were existential for the Conservatives, who lost all 19 of their councils and finished in fourth place in the BBC’s projected national vote share, just four points ahead of the Greens.”

“I’ve argued that the Tories are at risk of terminal collapse, but yesterday was the first time I really believed it was going to happen. They’ve lost control of heartland counties like Kent and Lincolnshire before, during the Major years, but this time they were almost entirely obliterated, and by another right-wing party, not a coalition of angry Labour and Lib Dem voters.”

“Never in their history have the Tories faced a government as unpopular as this one and lost ground, let alone this much ground.”

“Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese looks set to secure a second term in office, media networks project, with voters choosing stability over change against a backdrop of global turmoil inflicted by a returning President Donald Trump,” CNN reports.

BBC: “It’s quite a remarkable turnaround from the start of the year, when polling put Albanese’s popularity at record lows after three years of global economic pain, tense national debate, and growing government dissatisfaction.”

More from the BBC: “At this point of the evening, it’s hard to imagine a more emphatic rejection of Peter Dutton’s Liberal-National coalition than has played out. He has lost the election, with massive swings away from his party right around the country. And he has lost his own seat.”

Wall Street Journal: The Trump factor boosts another world leader in a close election.