Top 10 Most Shocking Election Results in History

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Some elections changed history — and nobody saw them coming. Welcome to WatchMojo.world and today we’re counting down the Top 10 most shocking election results in history. From political upsets to surprising victories, these results left the world stunned and altered the course of history.  Which election shocked you the most? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Transcript

00:00It was a bombshell so many didn't see coming.

00:03Words cannot describe how shell-shocked the Clinton campaign is right now.

00:09Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the biggest and most consequential

00:14electoral upsets from around the world that hardly anyone saw coming.

00:19The man who won the war has lost the election.

00:22Number 10. Narendra Modi loses outright majority. 2024 Indian general election.

00:30Between April and June 2024, nearly 650 million Indians voted to elect members of the Lok Sabha,

00:37the lower house of parliament. India's blockbuster prime minister is gearing up for another election.

00:44Narendra Modi is widely popular, both in India and overseas.

00:48Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking a third term, entered the election holding an absolute

00:53majority with his Bharatiya Janata party, BJP, and was widely expected to win decisively.

01:00However, the BJP's occasionally divisive message alienated many voters.

01:05This discontent was leveraged by the newly formed opposition coalition,

01:09the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA.

01:13This alliance was formed just a year ago, where more than a dozen regional parties

01:18teamed up to take on Narendra Modi and the BJP.

01:22Consequently, the BJP suffered an unexpected defeat, losing its regular majority in the Lok Sabha.

01:28Although the India block exceeded expectations, Modi remained prime minister because his own

01:34coalition, the National Democratic Alliance, secured enough seats for a majority.

01:38The NDA has become the leader of the NDA.

01:50Nevertheless, his influence in parliament is now considerably weakened.

01:55Number 9. Lula da Silva defeats incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. 2022 Brazilian general election.

02:02In the 2022 Brazilian election for president, voters faced a stark ideological choice.

02:07These past few weeks on the road have been noisy and relentless.

02:12Both Lula and Bolsonaro are well aware this has become a tight race.

02:16On one side, there was the far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, whose presidency was marred by

02:21mishandling the Covid-19 pandemic, widespread deforestation of the Amazon, and attacks on minorities.

02:27On the other side stood Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, a leftist former president who highlighted the

02:34achievements of his previous tenure and promised economic reforms.

02:38Two political foes now going head-to-head to lead Latin America's biggest nation.

02:43There's concern this race could also get violent.

02:46Although pre-election polls showed Lula leading, Bolsonaro's strongman image and significant support

02:52base suggested it was going to be a much tighter race. After two rounds of voting, Lula narrowly

02:58defeated Bolsonaro, marking a stunning political comeback for the former president who had once

03:04been convicted of corruption and sentenced to prison.

03:06What a comeback for Brazil's president-elect. A man who left power just 12 years ago with a sky-high

03:13approval rating, but who then subsequently fell from grace over corruption scandals. Here he is again, Lula 2.0.

03:22Number 8. Bessiru Diomai Fe wins. 2024 Senegalese presidential election.

03:28The 2024 presidential election in Senegal was initially scheduled for February 25th.

03:34However, on February 3rd, President Macky Sall, who was term limited, decided to postpone it

03:40indefinitely. The announcement surprised many voters who hoped to have a say on their country's future.

03:49He has betrayed the spirit of dialogue. He has betrayed the Senegalese people.

03:53Sall's government had already imprisoned prominent opposition politicians, like Ousmani Sanko and Bessiru

04:00Diomai Fe, raising concerns about the future of Senegal's democracy. The postponement intensified

04:06ongoing protests sparked by Sanko's imprisonment, and it was ultimately overturned.

04:12The bill that pushed back the February 25th poll had sparked protests across the country claiming the

04:18lives of three people. Just days before the rescheduled election on March 24th, Sanko and

04:24Fe were released from prison and allowed to campaign. Fe ran for the presidency in place of Sanko, who was

04:31disqualified due to his conviction. Despite the brief campaign period, Fe surprisingly emerged victorious,

04:38largely supported by young voters, and became Senegal's youngest president at the age of 44.

04:43Now, Mr. Clean, as he's nicknamed, has promised to get to work on some sweeping reforms.

04:49Number seven. Truman defeats Dewey. 1948 United States presidential election.

04:55Every election cycle, voters, pundits, and politicians alike wonder just how accurate the polls are.

05:01Polling errors have always existed, but none were as shocking as those in the 1948 election.

05:06The pundits, the pollsters, they all expected a Dewey victory.

05:11Truman, who became president following the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, was running for his first

05:16full term. Due to a struggling economy and labor strikes, Truman had grown deeply unpopular,

05:23and it didn't help that divisions in the Democratic Party had resulted in a three-way split.

05:28Delegates who walked out of the Democratic convention formed their own party.

05:31The Southern revolt against President Truman reaches its climax at Birmingham under the

05:36state's rights banner. The so-called Dixiecrats nominated the South Carolina

05:41governor Strom Thurmond as their presidential candidate. All signs pointed to a loss for

05:45Truman, with polls consistently showing him several points behind Republican candidates Thomas Dewey.

05:52Some newspapers even prematurely published the headline, Dewey defeats Truman. However,

05:58in a stunning upset, Truman won the election, with 303 electoral votes to Dewey's 189.

06:05Governor Thomas E. Dewey today conceded the presidential election to President Truman.

06:10Number 6. Left-wing coalition triumphs over the far right.

06:142024 French legislative election. Following the 2024 European Parliament elections,

06:20which heavily favored the far-right national rally, French President Emmanuel Macron dissolved

06:26the National Assembly and called for snap elections.

06:29The snap election was called by President Emmanuel Macron after his party's poor showing in recent

06:35European elections. The stakes are high for Macron as his centrist coalition could lose seats to the

06:41far-right national rally party. Macron aimed to catch his opponents by surprise, hoping their lack

06:46of preparation would lead to a loss in the legislative election. However, after the first round of voting,

06:52his plan seemed to backfire, as the national rally secured nearly a third of all votes.

07:07This initial setback triggered intense political maneuvering, resulting in over 200 left-wing and

07:12moderate candidates dropping out to avoid splitting the vote. Despite their early success, the national

07:19rally was dealt a stunning blow in the second round, as the freshly formed leftist alliance new popular front

07:25ultimately won more parliamentary seats. In a shock result for all, and a huge relief for many here,

07:32the left far-left coalition has unexpectedly become the biggest party in the French parliament,

07:39beating the far right. Number 5. Donald Trump wins. 2016 United States presidential election.

07:46Going into the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Republican candidate Donald Trump was the underdog.

07:52The man who so often hurled invective during the campaign. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime.

07:59After all, he was up against Hillary Clinton, who had a wealth of political experience and stood to

08:05make history as the first female president. Furthermore, Trump's campaign was riddled with controversies.

08:11He made inflammatory comments about immigrants and his opponents, faced numerous accusations of sexual

08:18misconduct, and was caught on tape making lewd comments about women. That was locker room talk.

08:24I'm not proud of it. I am a person who has great respect for people, for my family, for the people

08:31of this country, and certainly I'm not proud of it. Despite all of this, and the fact that Clinton

08:37consistently led in pre-election polls, Trump clinched the win by way of the Electoral College,

08:43securing key swing states like Florida, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

08:47This means that Donald Trump will be the 45th president of the United States, winning the most

08:57unreal, surreal election we have ever seen. It was one of the most stunning political upsets ever,

09:04surprising even Trump himself. 4. Conservatives win absolute majority

09:102015 United Kingdom general election In the lead-up to the 2015 UK general election,

09:16polls didn't clearly indicate which of the two main parties would win a majority.

09:21Let's start first off with the forecast that we have at the moment. Bear in mind, these are projected

09:28seats. The general prediction was a close race between the Conservative and Labour parties,

09:33with many expecting a hung parliament. The Conservative campaign, led by then Prime Minister

09:39David Cameron, emphasized economic stability and strong leadership, contrasting this with

09:44predicted chaos under the Labour party. I've just been to see Her Majesty the Queen,

09:49and I will now form a majority Conservative government. We will govern as a party of one nation,

09:56one United Kingdom. This message resonated with voters, and the Conservatives achieved a surprising victory,

10:02winning a majority of 330 seats in parliament. Contributing factors included the unexpected

10:08collapse of the Liberal Democrats and the rise of the Scottish National Party, which further

10:14fragmented the opposition. This is, of course, an enormous moment for the SNP and no one can deny that.

10:20The people of Scotland are speaking, and it is time for their voice to be heard at Westminster.

10:26This unexpected outcome led to the resignation of Labour leader Ed Miliband.

10:30Number three. Too close to call. 2000 United States presidential election. 537 votes. That was all it

10:40took to decide the presidency in 2000. And I got on the phone with Bill Daley, and he said,

10:45What's up, Mike? And I said, Billy, we haven't lost. This thing's going to be an automatic re-canvas.

10:51I said, This thing's too close to call. The election that year was between Vice President Al Gore and Texas

10:56Governor George W. Bush. With every other state accounted for, the results hinged on Florida,

11:02where the vote margin was razor thin. Initially, Bush had a slight lead, prompting automatic re-counts.

11:09This race is simply too close to call. And until the re-count is concluded and the results of

11:16Florida become official, our campaign continues. However, legal battles quickly ensued over ballot

11:23counting methods and deadlines, culminating in a Supreme Court decision that halted the recount

11:29while Bush was in the lead, effectively awarding him Florida's crucial electoral votes. The court

11:35declared that the recounts violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, because there

11:41was no uniform standard for counting all ballots. It was the first time in over a century that the

11:47candidate who lost the popular vote won the presidency. To this day, some people still dispute the

11:52results of this election. 2. Winston Churchill loses the Prime Minister

11:57Seat 1945 United Kingdom General Election

12:01By the end of World War II in Europe, Winston Churchill was one of the most celebrated figures

12:06in the world, widely admired for his wartime leadership. Shortly after VE Day, Winston Churchill

12:12was forced to call a general election by his Labour coalition partners. It had been ten years since

12:17the last election, and the country wanted its say. In the UK, his approval rating stood at a remarkable 83%.

12:25With such popularity, Churchill and his Conservative Party felt confident of their chances in the 1945

12:32general election. However, the electorate's focus had already shifted to post-war reconstruction.

12:382. Winston Churchill

12:38After enduring the horrors of war, the Labour government was determined it was they

12:43who should win the peace. To create a new Britain. The Labour Party promised sweeping social reforms,

12:49including nationalised healthcare and improved housing and employment conditions. These promises

12:55resonated with a public eager to move on from the war, and led to a landslide victory for Labour.

13:01Although Labour leader Clement Attlee became Prime Minister,

13:04Churchill later returned to the position after the Conservatives won the 1951 election.

13:09And in 1951, at the age of 76, he is once again appointed Prime Minister.

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13:31Number 1. Hitler's Nazi ideology becomes popular. 1932 German presidential election.

13:38In the 1932 German presidential election, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party made significant inroads,

13:45achieving a remarkable breakthrough. Though he was to lose the election to President Hindenburg,

13:50Hitler had established himself as a credible alternative leader of Germany.

13:54After years on the political fringes, the Nazi party rose to become the second largest party by the

13:591930s, securing about 37% of the votes in this election. Although Hitler lost the presidency to

14:06independent incumbent Paul von Hindenburg, the result was shocking to many, as it brought the Nazi's

14:12radical ideology to the forefront of German politics. The Nazi party proposed little in the

14:17way of detailed policies, but it offered order, discipline, and the personality of Adolf Hitler.

14:24This democratic endorsement lent a semblance of legitimacy to their extreme platform,

14:29and positioned Hitler as a key figure in Germany. It also marked a crucial turning point in his

14:35eventual rise to power and the establishment of Nazi rule in the country.

14:39Democracy had arrived in Germany at the end of World War I. Now, the majority of Germans wanted to be

14:45rid of it. In his election speeches, Hitler made no secret of the fact that a vote for the Nazis

14:52was a vote for dictatorship. Which of these election outcomes were you the most stunned by?

14:58Let us know in the comments below.

15:00A victory that feels like a defeat for Brand Modi. The aura of invincibility that has come to surround him

15:06has been damaged.

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15:22I'll see you in the next video.

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