First Person

Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won a fourth, non-consecutive presidential term after defeating Senator Flávio Bolsonaro in the 25 October run-off. Lula secured 51.79 per cent of valid votes, or 64.26 million ballots, against Bolsonaro’s 48.21 per cent. The result marks a turnaround in a closely contested election, after Bolsonaro finished ahead of Lula in the first round. Lula’s victory followed a campaign that combined street mobilisation with an extensive social media effort. His re-election keeps the Workers’ Party in power and sets the stage for another term shaped by domestic political polarisation, economic pressures and Brazil’s role in international affairs. At 80, Lula will begin his new term in January 2027, facing the task of governing a country divided by a tight electoral contest

India reaffirmed its commitment to universal, non-discriminatory and verifiable nuclear disarmament at the United Nations General Assembly’s First Committee in New York on 19 October 2026. Delivering India’s statement on nuclear weapons and related issues, Congress MP representing Chandigarh in the Lok Sabha, Manish Tewari, reiterated that disarmament could be achieved through a step-by-step process underpinned by universal commitment to an agreed, non-discriminatory multilateral framework. He said India was prepared to convert its commitments to a no-first-use posture and non-use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states into multilateral legal arrangements. Addressing the implications of artificial intelligence for nuclear command and control, he stressed that decisions on the use of nuclear weapons should be taken by humans. He also outlined India’s longstanding proposals to reduce nuclear danger and negotiate an international convention prohibiting the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons.

Speaking at the Pnyx in Athens on 7 October 2026, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on the West to rediscover the ambition, national pride and sense of duty that he associated with ancient Greek civilisation. He argued that Western countries had weakened themselves by abandoning their industrial capacity, allowing their militaries to deteriorate and transferring decision-making to international institutions. Presenting the coming decade as decisive for the West’s global standing, Rubio outlined the Trump administration’s pursuit of national power through reindustrialisation, stronger defence capabilities, secure supply chains and technological leadership. He urged the United States and Europe to strengthen their transatlantic alliance, increase defence cooperation and work together to address shared security challenges. Rubio maintained that alliances and international institutions should protect national sovereignty rather than undermine it, arguing that the West must recover its confidence in its historical legacy and its willingness to defend its national interests amid renewed great-power competition.

Morocco’s Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri has become the country’s first woman Head of Government after King Mohammed VI appointed her on 29 September, following her Authenticity and Modernity Party’s victory in the parliamentary elections. A lawyer by training and former Mayor of Marrakesh, El Mansouri becomes only the third woman to head a government in the Arab world, after Tunisia’s Najla Bouden and Sarra Zaafrani Zenzri. Her appointment marks a significant moment for women’s political representation in the Arab and wider Muslim world, where women have reached the highest levels of government in only a small number of countries. El Mansouri, 50, has already broken political ground as Marrakesh’s first woman mayor and as a senior government minister. Her rise to the premiership places Morocco’s experience within a wider, evolving story of women’s participation in political leadership across Muslim-majority societies.

Speaking at the NDTV Defence Summit 2026, Chief of Army Staff General Dhiraj Seth argued that technological advances may be transforming the character of warfare, but territorial control remains the tangible measure of military success. He said technology is shortening individual battles without necessarily shortening wars, describing contemporary conflicts as “wars with pause” in which changes in intensity do not necessarily amount to an end to hostilities.

Seth stressed that, amid the growing role of information warfare, drones, AI and other technologies, one reality remains unchanged: victory is ultimately measured in territorial terms, with territory having to be occupied, secured and defended by forces on the ground. He also placed the soldier, or yoddha (warrior), at the centre of capability development, arguing that every new military capability must ultimately serve the soldier operating on the ground.