First Vucic falls, then Lula holds off Bolsonaro!

Did right-wing populism finally peak?

Brazil

Serbia

Not really. Brazil was close and will always be close. Serbia was 12 years and enough time to have younger generations grow up and see how awful it was first hand to want change. Nothing lasts forever and can easily go the other way over time, which we just saw over the past decade for many areas around the world. As long as people believe propoganda over facts the other guy will always have a chance. This just means they will revise their tactics and try harder next time.

Lula genocided “criminals”

Serbia is an autocracy.

Op seems to have a skewed definition of authoritarianism.

Brazil almost voted for the son-of-fascist-attempted-coup. I'll take a Lula win, but how narrow it is it not reassuring. Same story around the world.

British Columbia, Canada, may have just gone the other way and voted to a finding out phase, depending upon what the Conservatives act like there.

Good!

I still maintain that MAGA's double win in the USA has emboldened right-wing populism around the world.
It has definitely peaked, but to fall off globally I think it needs MAGA to fail, the USA to return to some semblance of normalcy.

Oh and while most right-wing populists would probably go in an authoritarian direction if in power, them winning an election is not authoritarianism per se. There's several countries right now that suffer from that plague, but they're still democratic (and not likely to become authoritarian as long as the neofascists have to make coalitions with less extreme parties to be in power).

But yeah, fuck fascism cloaked in populism, may it die.

Just like Hungary was probably classified as a mild autocracy until recently, yet their wikipedia reads like this now:

Since 2024, the country has been considered "no longer a full democracy" by the EU, and is generally said to have democratically backslid since 2010, when the Fidesz–KDNP Party Alliance led by Viktor Orbán won a two-thirds parliamentary supermajority and adopted a new constitution of Hungary. However, the victory of Péter Magyar in the 2026 Hungarian parliamentary election may bring about changes, as he promised to restore the order of democracy.

I for one hope we will see a similar edit for Serbia soon. That's what OP and many others are celebrating right now.