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Sao Paulo far-right digital influencer and mayor candidate Pablo Marcal leaves a polling station on supporters' shoulders after voting at a polling station during the municipal elections in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Oct. 6, 2024.

REUTERS/Felipe Iruata

Hard Numbers: Brazil’s local elections, North Korea 💔 China?, Tunisia’s low voter turnout, Mayor killed in Mexico, Republicans vs. sexually explicit content

5,518: On Sunday, voters in Brazil elected mayors in 5,518 cities and towns across the country, and on Oct. 27, many will return to vote in 51 more cities, including Sao Paulo, where no candidate earned more than 50% in the first round. Much media coverage has underlined that most winners so far were center-right candidates backed by former President Jair Bolsonaro, but the real trend seems to be that incumbents of both left and right fared well.

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Israel/Palestine one of the few Middle East areas getting less stable
Israel/Palestine one of the few Middle East areas getting less stable | World In: 60 | GZERO Media

Israel/Palestine one of the few Middle East areas getting less stable

Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.

Israel launched its biggest military operation in the West Bank since 2002. How will it impact Israeli-Palestinian stability?

Well, I mean, pretty badly. The problem is that Israel has no interest in reopening talks with the Palestinians on a potential two-state solution. The country has moved towards the Right on that issue, and the Palestinians don't have effective governance, for the Palestinian authority in the West Bank is increasingly weakened and in Gaza, it's really a matter of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. So, there's no movement towards talking. Instead, it's the Israelis taking more territory, building more settlements, and the Palestinians getting angrier and more desperate. And no surprise that you're going to see more military confrontation on the back of that. Having said that, it's one of the few areas where things aren't getting more stable in the Middle East, almost everywhere else, the Gulf, Iran's relations with the GCC, Qatar and the GCC, Assad getting normalized, Yemen with a ceasefire, most of the Middle East actually looks more stable.

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Brazilian politics: surprisingly stable
Brazilian Politics: Surprisingly Stable | Quick Take | GZERO Media

Brazilian politics: surprisingly stable

Ian Bremmer's Quick Take: Hi everybody. Ian Bremmer here. A Quick Take to kick off your week. There's so much that we could talk about, but we just had elections in Brazil, and as expected, Lula will be the next president of the largest economy in South America. We haven't yet heard anything from Jair Bolsonaro. That, of course, is an open question, just how much he wants to be an election denier, how much disruption he wants to bring about. But there's no question that we are going to see that transition.

Now, not a big surprise here. Lula's been polling ahead consistently over the course of the past months, though it was a tighter race, ultimately only a 1.9% split between the two candidates, a couple million votes, which had been tightening over the course of the last few weeks. In part, that's because Bolsonaro did a better job towards the end of electioneering. In part, the economy was getting a little bit better in Brazil. But also, keep in mind, generally speaking, polls underestimate the support you'll get for anti-establishment populace. And one big reason for that is because if you really don't believe in institutions, you are not likely to tell pollsters who you're going to vote for. You know why? Because you don't trust them. Now, the good news is a lot of people that really believe in conspiracy theories don't even bother to vote. But nonetheless, if they are going to vote, they're probably not going to talk to pollsters about it. So you do get a bit of that shy, radical populous turnout that did happen this time around, but not enough to make a difference.

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China's Zero-Covid, Elections in Brazil, Cold War 2.0: Your Questions, Answered

China's zero-COVID, elections in Brazil, Cold War 2.0: Your Questions, Answered

Summer is over, and with it, this summer’s mailbag series is coming to an end.

After over 1,000 questions and exactly 100 answers (I am on vacation, after all), it’s been a pleasure.

Note: This is the fifth and final installment of a five-part summer mailbag series responding to reader questions. You can find the first part here, the second part here,, the third part here, and the fourth part here. Some of the questions that follow have been slightly edited for clarity. If you have questions you want answered, ask them in the comments section below or follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and look out for future AMAs.

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