“French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who is almost level with incumbent Emmanuel Macron in the opinion polls ahead of next year’s presidential election, has said she would form a government of national unity if elected and would draw support from voters of left and right, just as the UK’s Boris Johnson has done,” the Financial Times reports.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not be able to form a government for the seventh time in his three-decade political career, according to preliminary results from 97% of the regular polling stations reported by the Central Elections Committee,” the Jerusalem Post reports.

Haaretz: “Netanyahu still does not have a clear path to a 61-seat majority needed to form a coalition. The vote count is expected to continue through Friday.”

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be able to form a government for the seventh time in his three-decade political career, according to exit polls on the three television networks Tuesday night,” the Jerusalem Post reports.

“All three polls indicated that his bloc of Likud, Shas, United Torah Judaism and the Religious Zionist Party received enough support together with the Yamina Party of Naftali Bennett, who said during the campaign that he was ready to join a coalition with either political bloc.”

“In under one week, Mario Draghi has managed to bring together warring parties from across the political spectrum in Italy, boosting financial markets and projecting a new image for the country. In many ways, that’s more than his predecessor managed in over two years,” Bloomberg reports.

“Draghi’s track record as a policy maker and skills as a mediator are helping to forge a rare consensus in Italy, with potential opponents reasoning that it’s now politically risky not to back him.”

“A Namibian politician named after Adolf Hitler says he has no plans for world domination after winning a sweeping victory in local elections,” the BBC reports.

Israeli Blue and White party leader and Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that he can no longer support the government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and his party will vote Wednesday in support of a preliminary reading of a bill to dissolve the Knesset and call early elections, the Times of Israel reports.

Gantry described Netanyahu as “a serial breaker of promises” in a prime-time televised address.

Centrist mayors won in Brazil’s two biggest cities — Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro — defeating President Jair Bolsonaro’s candidates in nationwide municipal elections, consolidating the return of more moderate political actors following a conservative wave that swept the country two years ago, Bloomberg reports.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who drew widespread praise for her response to the coronavirus pandemic, has easily won a second term, the AP reports.

“Belarus’s under-fire autocrat Alexander Lukashenko has secretly inaugurated himself as president in a ceremony at his palace in Minsk,” The Independent reports.

“The 26-year ruler declared an 80 per cent landslide victory in 9 August elections — claims that led to weeks of protest and a witheringly violent response from the state.”

Bloomberg: Belarus strongman outsmarts opposition with snap inauguration.

“New Zealand delayed a national election by about a month after a coronavirus outbreak in its largest city of Auckland put a third of voters into lockdown,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The election, which was expected to be dominated by debate over the government’s response to the pandemic, will now be held on Oct. 17, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday.”

Associated Press: “The outbreak in the nation’s largest city has grown to 58 infections.”

Wired: “Internet connectivity and cellular service in Belarus have been down since Sunday evening, after sporadic outages early that morning and throughout the day. The connectivity blackout, which also includes landline phones, appears to be a government-imposed outage that comes amid widespread protests and increasing social unrest over Belarus’ presidential election Sunday.”

Radio Free Europe: Second night of protests rock Balarus.

“The White House on Friday condemned Hong Kong’s decision to postpone September legislative elections by a year because of the coronavirus, denouncing the action a day after President Trump floated the idea of delaying the U.S. presidential election in November,” the Washington Post reports.

Kayleigh McEnany said from the White House podium that the postponement “undermines the democratic processes and freedoms that have underpinned Hong Kong’s prosperity, and this is only the most recent in a growing list of broken promises by Beijing.”

Polish President Andrzej Duda, a social conservative aligned with the nationalist Law and Justice party, appears to have narrowly beat center-left Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski in Sunday’s election, Reuters reports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin “is set to rule Russia for another 16 years after sweeping to victory in a controversial referendum the results of which were dismissed as a ‘huge lie’ by his biggest domestic critic,” the Times of London reports.

“Officials said that 77.9% of voters had backed constitutional amendments that will allow Mr Putin, 67, to run for two additional terms of office up to 2036, when he will be 83. The ex-KGB agent, who recently celebrated two decades in power, had been due to stand down in 2024.”

The Supreme Court of Israel has unanimously struck down petitions seeking to block Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been indicted on corruption charges, from forming a coalition government with his former rival Benny Gantz, Haaretz reports.

Axios: “The decision paves the way for the new government to be sworn in on May 13, bringing an end to more than a year of political deadlock in which Israel was forced to hold three consecutive elections.”

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and his former challenger, Benny Gantz, agreed Monday night to establish a unity government, a deal that finally breaks a yearlong political impasse and keeps Mr. Netanyahu in office as he faces trial on corruption charges,” the New York Times reports.

“The Israeli president on Thursday handed the task of forming a government to Parliament, starting a 21-day countdown that could lead to new elections, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his chief rival, Benny Gantz, missed another midnight deadline to reach a power-sharing agreement,” the New York Times reports.