What is leader election in distributed systems?

class Node:
    def __init__(self, node_id):
        self.id = node_id
        self.term = 0
        self.voted_for = None

def elect(nodes, candidate):
    candidate.term += 1                 # start a new election term
    votes = 1                           # candidate votes for itself
    for n in nodes:
        if n is candidate:
            continue
        if n.term < candidate.term:     # grant vote for a newer term
            n.term = candidate.term
            n.voted_for = candidate.id
            votes += 1
    majority = len(nodes) // 2 + 1
    return votes >= majority, votes

nodes = [Node(i) for i in range(5)]
won, votes = elect(nodes, nodes[0])
print("node 0 won?", won, "with", votes, "/", len(nodes), "votes")