Elections past, present and future dominate international news

UK: Conservatives out, Labour in and Farage now an MP

The dust is still settling after Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party swept to power in Britain on Thursday after 14 years of Conservative government, which was drummed out of office after an electoral landslide. Standing prime minister Rishi Sunak, conceded defeat and apologised to voters, whom he acknowledged were “angry.” It’s not all good news for Starmer, however: voter turnout was low, at 60% and the hardline rightwing Reform UK party’s Nigel Farage is now a member of parliament. 

Reformist Pezeshkian elected in Iran 

A new reformist president was elected in Iran. Massoud Pezeshkian defeated hardline conservative Saeed Jalili in a run-off election yesterday, winning 53.3%  of the approximately 30 million votes, to Jalili’s 44.3%.

The run-off election had to be held after no candidate secured a majority in the first round of voting on June 28. Voter turnout was low, at just 40%.

Iran went to the polls after the death of its previous president Ebrahim Raisi was killed, alongside seven others,  in a helicopter crash in May.

General elections to be held in France tomorrow after fraught campaign

Meanwhile France goes to the polls tomorrow after an election campaign that was marred with violent incidents and the spectre of a resurgent right wing government. 

The far-right National Rally (RN) party won a third of the vote last Sunday in the first round of parliamentary elections.

On Friday, France’s centrist Prime Minister Gabriel Attal warned that a far-right government would “unleash hatred and violence”. 30,000 additional police officers are being deployed to maintain order. 

USA: Only the Lord Almighty: Biden resists calls to step down amidst cognitive health concerns

Across the Atlantic, US President Joe Biden has resisted calls for him to step aside after his occasionally confused performance in debates raised concerns about his health amongst Democrats. During an interview on Friday, Biden said only the "Lord Almighty'' could convince him to withdraw his bid for re-election.

Biden has refused to undergo a cognitive test and publish its results in order to reassure voters of his fitness to serve another term.

"I have a cognitive test every single day. Every day I have that test - everything I do [is a test]," he told ABC news.