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US President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump both won big in the US's Super Tuesday primaries – and Trump's only noticeable challenger had little to celebrate.
Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, won only one state, the small Democratic stronghold of Vermont.
Though her campaign said staff were jubilant, she gave no victory speech.
Donald Trump, by contrast, quickly declared victory. He's moved on from these primaries, and so has Biden.
Both men are now firmly pivoting to what looks set to be a repeat of their duel in 2020 –and the US is bracing for a brutal eight months of campaigning.
Watch the commentary by Philip Crowther in the player above.
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Europe's journey over three-quarters of a century reflects a vision articulated by one of its founding fathers, Robert Schuman: "Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements."
In keeping with Schuman's foresight, Europe has evolved step by step, with each achievement profoundly improving the lives of its citizens.
This evolving Europe transcends geographical definitions, embodying a community committed to human rights, democracy, and the rule of law.
These values, championed by the Council of Europe, the leading organisation standing for human rights, rule of law and democracy on our continent, are precisely what many Belarusians are courageously fighting for today.
For the people of Belarus, the road to Europe runs through Strasbourg. The Council of Europe is key for the democratic future of their country.
Artist Ales Pushkin waves a red-and-white flag in front of a police blockade during a protest in Minsk, August 2020AP Photo
Although Belarus was never a member state, that did not prevent the Council of Europe from working to bring the country closer to European values.
Official contacts and cooperation, however, came to an abrupt end following the launch of Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine.
In 2022, the Council of Europe established instead a Contact Group with Belarusian democratic forces and civil society, a pioneering initiative that serves now as a model for other organisations, designed after ceasing any contact with the Minsk regime.
Belarus elections were a 'sham', US says, as results are announced Can Europe help pro-democracy Belarusians as Lukashenko tightens grip on power?
Never before had it engaged in this way with a nation's democratic forces in the absence of ties with its formal government.
That bold step underscores the extraordinary nature of our times and the critical role required in supporting Belarus’ democratic aspirations.
Tearing down the barriers to democracy
For the brave people of Belarus, facing the challenges of repression and the struggle for a democratic society, the significance of the Council of Europe’s role and purpose cannot be overstated.
The organisation's experience in supporting and monitoring European countries’ democratic transition provides a framework for Belarus to follow.
Moreover, this platform for dialogue offers Belarusians a voice in a larger European conversation about democracy and human rights. This is crucial for people who have long been isolated due to the actions of the current regime.
We want to see the disappearance of barriers to democracy erected by the Lukashenka regime.
Looking ahead, we must work towards reforms of fundamental importance, including abolishing the death penalty, which will be crucial for Belarus in aligning with European standards and a symbolic move towards a more humane, just society.
Alyaksandr Lukashenka gives a speech during a military parade in Minsk, May 2020Belarusian Presidential Press Service via AP
This includes supporting civil society and independent media, including journalists in exile, aiding political prisoners and their families, and offering expertise in reforming legal and political systems.
The Council of Europe’s Safety of Journalists Platform, through its partner organisations, continues to monitor the situation in Belarus. Its annual report released on Tuesday confirms that Belarus holds the unwelcome record of the number of journalists in detention (38 by the end of 2023).
Today, Minsk is the European capital of political prisoners and human rights violations It’s time to bring Belarusians back to the European family they belong to
Looking ahead, we must work towards reforms of fundamental importance, including abolishing the death penalty, which will be crucial for Belarus in aligning with European standards and a symbolic move towards a more humane, just society.
The Contact Group has recently agreed on an action plan comprised of 15 targeted activities. These are not abstract ambitions but immediate steps towards tangible outcomes. Together, we are sowing the seeds for meaningful change.
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Europe wasn't built in a day
Importantly, in all this, like-minded Belarusians are treated as partners ready to contribute to a shared future.
They bring to the table not just a willingness to engage in democratic reform but also expertise in areas critical to Europe's future, such as the regulation of artificial intelligence and ensuring environmental sustainability.
Walking the path to that democratic future, integrated into the European community and, ultimately, its institutions, requires courage, resilience, and international solidarity. But the destination is the right one for the Belarusian people.
Belarusian riot police block demonstrators during an opposition rally in Minsk, November 2020AP Photo
The best future for Belarus is a truly European one, marked by a commitment to the values that define our modern continent, centred on the European Convention on Human Rights, which remains our golden standard.
Walking the path to that democratic future, integrated into the European community and, ultimately, its institutions, requires courage, resilience, and international solidarity. But the destination is the right one for the Belarusian people.
They deserve the stability, prosperity and freedom that come with it.
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Step by step, we will enable this together. Like proverbial Rome, Europe was not built in a day.
But every day, we can make progress, by upholding the values that define us as a community of human rights, rule of law and democracy.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is the leader of the Belarusian opposition in exile, and Marija Pej？inovi？ Buri？ is the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
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President Joe Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump, romped through more than a dozen states on Super Tuesday, all but cementing a November rematch and increasing pressure on the former president's last major rival, Nikki Haley, to leave the Republican race.
Their victories from coast to coast, including the delegate-rich states of California and Texas, left little doubt about the trajectory of the race.
Haley won a narrow victory in heavily Democratic Vermont, denying Trump a full sweep, but the former president carried other states that might have been favourable to her such as Virginia, Massachusetts and Maine, all home to large swaths of moderate voters like those who have backed her in previous primaries.
The only contest Biden lost on Tuesday was the Democratic caucus in American Samoa, a tiny US territory in the South Pacific Ocean. Biden was defeated by previously unknown candidate Jason Palmer, 51 votes to 40.
Not enough states will have voted until later this month for Trump or Biden to formally become their parties' presumptive nominees, but the primary's biggest day made their rematch a near-certainty.
Joe Biden at the White House. Andrew Harnik/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved
Haley watched the election results in private and had no campaign events scheduled going forward. Her campaign said in a statement that the results reflected there were many Republicans "who are expressing deep concerns about Donald Trump."
"Unity is not achieved by simply claiming 'we're united,'" spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said.
Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, meanwhile, was packed for a victory party. A crowd in the ballroom erupted as Fox News announced that the former president had won North Carolina's GOP primary.
"They call it Super Tuesday for a reason," Trump told a raucous crowd. He went on to attack Biden over the border with Mexico and the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Biden, who has all but ignored the existence of any Democratic primary challenge, didn't give a speech, but instead issued a statement warning that Tuesday's results had left Americans with a clear choice – and touting his own accomplishments after beating Trump.
"If Donald Trump returns to the White House, all of this progress is at risk," Biden said. "He is driven by grievance and grift, focused on his own revenge and retribution, not the American people."
The age of uncertainty
Despite Biden's and Trump's domination of their parties, polls make it clear that the broader electorate does not want this year's general election to be identical to the 2020 race.
Both the 81-year-old Biden and the 77-year-old Trump continue to dominate their parties despite facing questions about age and neither having broad popularity across the general electorate.
A new AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll finds a majority of Americans don't think either Biden or Trump has the necessary mental acuity for the job.
Biden is the oldest president to ever occupy the Oval Office, and Republicans pounce on any verbal slip he makes as evidence of his supposed decrepitude. His aides insist that skeptical voters will come around once it is clear that either he or Trump will be elected again in November.
Trump, meanwhile, is now the same age Biden was during the 2020 campaign and has attracted more and more concern about his own cognitive fitness with repeated flubs – among them referring to the Second World War in the future tense and mistakenly suggesting he was running against Barack Obama, who left the White House in 2017.
Donald Trump addresses supporters at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Rebecca Blackwell/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.
The final days before Tuesday demonstrated the unique nature of this year's campaign. Rather than barnstorming the states holding primaries, Biden and Trump held rival events last week along the southern border, each seeking to gain an advantage in the increasingly fraught immigration debate.
After the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 on Monday to restore Trump to primary ballots following attempts to ban him for his role in helping spark the Capitol riot, Trump pointed to the 91 criminal counts against him to accuse Biden of weaponising the courts.
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"Fight your fight yourself," Trump said. "Don't use prosecutors and judges to go after your opponent."
Biden is set to deliver the annual State of the Union address in Washington on Thursday, and will then hit the campaign trail in the key swing states of Pennsylvania and Georgia.
The president faces low approval ratings and polls suggesting that many Americans, even a majority of Democrats, don't want to see the 81-year-old running again. His easy Michigan primary win last week was spoiled slightly by an "uncommitted" campaign organised by activists who disapprove of the president's handling of Israel's war in Gaza.