“President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva edged ahead of Flávio Bolsonaro in a new poll ahead of October’s vote, as the latest twist in Brazil’s Supreme Court crisis renewed scrutiny of the right-wing challenger’s ties to a disgraced executive at the center of a multibillion-dollar banking fraud,” Bloomberg reports.

“Lula would lead a runoff 47%-46%, according to a BTG/Nexus survey published Monday, after gaining 2 points from the previous poll. The movement was within the survey’s 2-point margin of error, leaving the race in a statistical dead heat.”

“Chancellor Friedrich Merz is determined to hold on to power in Germany in defiance of the growing numbers within his party seeking to push him out of office,” Bloomberg reports.

“The German leader is facing a wave of frustration over communication missteps and his failure to gain traction with the public as he struggles to revive economic growth. The far-right’s stunning victory in a state election on Sunday, putting the party within reach of leading a right-wing state government for the first time since World War II, has thrown Merz’s leadership into more disarray.”

“A far-right electoral victory in a small eastern state has plunged Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, into a fight for his political survival with no surefire paths to prevail,” the New York Times reports.

“Mr. Merz was not on the ballot in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, where the Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, won nearly 44 percent of the vote and now sits on the cusp of becoming the first far-right party to govern a German state since the end of World War II. But Mr. Merz, a mainstream conservative, was very much on voters’ minds, post-election analyses show — and not fondly.”

“Now, with two more key regional elections set for this month — in Berlin and in the coastal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania — Mr. Merz is struggling to reassure restless party stalwarts that he remains the leader that they and Germany need.”

For members: Germany Takes a Hard Right Turn

“Germany’s Alternative for Germany scored a historic victory at a regional election on Sunday but was just short of the majority needed to form the country’s first far-right government since World War II, according to preliminary results,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The result will present other parties on the right and the left with a stark choice: continue banding together to keep the AfD out of power despite deep political differences—a decades-old strategy known as the firewall—or let the AfD form a minority government for the first time.”

“Now the ball is with Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his center-right Christian Democratic Union. The path he takes could decide his fate and that of his government.”

Axios: Far-right win in state election tests Germany’s political firewall.

“The far-right Alternative for Germany decisively won the state election in Saxony-Anhalt amid growing public discontent with the political establishment, but is expected to fall short of an outright majority to form a government,” Bloomberg reports.

“The AfD secured 44.5% of the vote on Sunday in the eastern state, well ahead of the long-governing Christian Democratic Union with 18.5%.”

“During the coronavirus pandemic, a little-known German state lawmaker with an upbeat patter and a telegenic smile started railing on TikTok against pandemic regulations. Complaining about masks, vaccinations and other government requirements that he deemed ‘crazy,’ the lawmaker attracted millions of viewers with his videos by using an affable tone to deliver an anti-establishment message,” the New York Times reports.

“Now, that lawmaker, Ulrich Siegmund, has harnessed his online popularity to come closer to power than any other far-right politician in Germany since the Nazi era ended in 1945.”

“Germany’s anti-immigration, nationalist AfD looks set to emerge as the dominant party in key state elections this weekend, cementing its rise and reshaping of the country’s politics. Recent polling published by Die Zeit showed, however, that the party will fall short of winning an absolute majority in Saxony-Anhalt,” Semafor reports.

“Sunday’s vote kicks off a spate of major elections worldwide in the coming months that each have the potential to drastically alter domestic — and global — politics.”

“Just days before the far-right AfD clinches a possible election triumph, German executives are warning of the economic damage that its extremism might wreak,” Bloomberg reports.

“The party is on track to win the vote in Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday, and could even potentially achieve an absolute majority. Such an outcome in the eastern German state would augur the first far-right government taking power at that level since 1945, a prospect that is openly alarming some business leaders.”

“Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Sunday renewed his call for free and fair elections in Venezuela, just two days after the Trump administration announced that the U.S. would take over 65 billion barrels of oil from the South American nation,” NBC News reports.

Said Cruz: “There need to be democratic, free elections in Venezuela.”

“Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned that Germany’s eastern Saxony-Anhalt region will suffer economic damage if the far-right AfD party wins control of the state’s government next Sunday,” Bloomberg reports.

Said Merz: “If things turn out the way the polls suggest, this federal state will face significant problems. I cannot imagine international investors showing up for a groundbreaking ceremony with an AfD state premier to establish new plants or set up new businesses in Saxony-Anhalt.”

“Iceland’s voters rejected a proposal to restart negotiations on joining the European Union more than a decade after previous talks ended, the national broadcaster reported Sunday,” the Associated Press reports.

“The vote will put the long-debated issue to rest more than a decade after a euroskeptic government ended EU talks.”

“The far-right One Nation party has secured its first lower house seat in the state parliament of Western Australia, defeating the ruling Labor Party to win a special election,” Bloomberg reports.

“The election was watched as an indicator of One Nation’s strength after the party surged in the polls over the past year.”

“A year out from Argentina’s presidential election, Peter Thiel has become an avatar for the left’s charge that President Javier Milei is putting the country up for sale,” Bloomberg reports.

“Opposition lawmakers launched a five-hour congressional hearing Friday into Thiel’s interests in Argentina, ramping up scrutiny on the tech billionaire who has purchased a mansion in Buenos Aires and a stake in the country’s biggest oil exporter.”

“Thiel also met with Milei and members of the cabinet earlier this year, just as the libertarian leader began pushing one bill to make it easier for foreigners to purchase Argentine land and another that would allow companies to be run entirely by AI.”

“Hungary’s parliament elected an academic with no legal training to head a flagship authority created by Peter Magyar’s government to map and help prosecute suspected misappropriation during former leader Viktor Orban’s tenure,” Bloomberg reports.

“Swiss voters will decide in a referendum next month whether to approve a more restrictive form of neutrality that would block their ​country from imposing economic sanctions or cooperating with NATO,” Reuters reports.

“Posters featuring doves of peace and asking voters to reject war have ‌appeared across the Alpine nation in a campaign that has won the backing of the Kremlin but has raised fears that it could isolate Switzerland from its European neighbors.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky said holding a wartime election in Ukraine while active fighting with Russia continues would “destroy” the country by splitting ​Ukrainians, Reuters reports.