Is 2026 the year democracy finally fought back?

The Hungarian Shock

It is still too early to declare a definitive victory. However, a series of recent electoral defeats—those of Viktor Orbán, Aleksandar Vučić and Flávio Bolsonaro—make me wonder if 2026 is becoming the period when democracy counterattacked, gradually but with visible certainty. Even in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc lost its parliamentary majority, while Arab parties recorded a spectacular rise. Although the opposition may not yet be able to form a government, it now holds the larger parliamentary bloc.

The starting point of this change was the stunning electoral result in Hungary in April. Against all odds, Orbán, the most entrenched autocrat in the European Union, was deposed by challenger Péter Magyar. In his many years in power, Orbán did everything he could to consolidate and perpetuate his tight authoritarian grip. The media were in his pocket, the judiciary fed from his hand, and academic freedom was systematically limited. Nevertheless, a broad civic movement coalesced around Magyar’s party and succeeded in ousting him. The banks of the Danube witnessed the most exuberant celebration night of the current century.

Serbia’s Turning Point

The joy was equally palpable last Sunday, 300 km further down the river, in Belgrade. There, in Serbia, the Student List, a grassroots alliance of students, academics and angry citizens, unexpectedly sent Vučić to the exit door.

Vučić had held tight control of power since 2014, first as prime minister, then as president, relying on a familiar cocktail of right-wing extremism, financial scandals and contempt for the rule of law: the winning formula of recent years. But there seems to be a limit to what citizens are willing to accept. Vučić’s fate was sealed after the newly built roof of the Novi Sad train station collapsed in 2024, killing 16 people and triggering widespread public fury against systemic corruption.

Brasil’s Surprise Victory

Then came the biggest news on Monday morning, when Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defied expectations and won the Brazilian presidential election. In the first round, Flávio Bolsonaro was in the lead, and nearly all polls predicted he would win the final round. Many Brazilians had prepared for an administration at least as right-wing as his father’s. Instead, Lula, the son of poor illiterate farmers and himself a former factory worker, surprised friends and enemies alike, winning the presidency of Latin America’s largest economy for the fourth time.

Commentators were quick to emphasize that Lula’s victory halted a streak of right-wing populist wins in Latin America. This is true, but if you broaden the perspective, a wider pattern emerges. This is not primarily a story of left versus right, but rather one of democrats versus post-democrats. Magyar in Hungary is not particularly left-wing; he is a center-right leader who was once a member of Orbán’s own party. In Serbia, the Student List was led by Ilija Srdanović, a cardiologist and university professor without a pronounced ideological profile. Although he supports liberal values like press freedom and the rule of law, his position on Kosovo aligns with traditional Serbian nationalism: it should not be independent.

Democrats vs. Post-Democrats

What Magyar, Srdanović and Lula have in common—despite significant political differences—is a fundamental belief that the rules of the democratic game must be respected. Elections must be fair, judges and journalists must work independently, and checks and balances exist for a reason. Post-democrats, in contrast, treat laws and international agreements as mere suggestions, a convenient menu of policy options from which they can select selectively. They use elections to gain power, only to strip democratic institutions once in power and maximize their private business profits. Since corruption is the key, they must stay in power to stay out of prison. Opposition voices must be silenced and critical media processed. Post-democrats keep only the outer shell of democracy.

Bolsonaro Jr. took a page from Donald Trump’s playbook: election results are declared unchallenged when they win and rigged when they lose. Similarly, Netanyahu is now trying to discredit the Israeli election result, suggesting Qatar intervened on behalf of Palestinian parties. Post-democrats have been on the rise for years, and it is frightening. Since 2000, we have witnessed a constant and deliberate dismantling of democratic achievements on all continents. Any reader of the latest World Democracy Report, prepared by the V-Dem Institute, could easily despair. In terms of overall democratic health, the report finds that we have effectively regressed to 1978 levels. Only 7% of the world’s population lives in liberal democracies.

Hope in Dark Times

However, after years of alarming headlines about global democratic backsliding, the news from Budapest, Belgrade and Brasília offers rays of hope in dark times. So does the massive wave of Gen Z protests this year, from India and the Philippines to Albania, Argentina and Chile. Huge crowds of young people took to the streets to challenge autocratic power and corruption in their countries.

Could liberal democracy be finding a tailwind? Is it truly possible to defeat autocrats and authoritarian regimes? Could this mark the beginning of a democratic revitalization that might extend to the US next week? Most polls suggest that Democrats have strong chances of reclaiming at least the House of Representatives.