Year of elections shows South Asia's democracies remain intact

This is a timely reminder of the total natural resiliance of our democratic system of governance.  understand that the whole election process allows the people to form a working consensus of support for the government at hand.  This happens often enough to remind those tasked with the job of governance to never quite forget it.

It can never ever be perfect, but because it produces consent, it is vastly better than BIG MAN RULE of any kind.

Thanks to modernity, we are now capable of applying the rule of Twelve which  naturally supports electoral systems over BIG MAN RULE in evolving consensus support.. 

Year of elections shows South Asia's democracies remain intact

December 8, 2024

https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/Year-of-elections-shows-South-Asia-s-democracies-remain-intact

On the face of it, South Asia's democracies are far from perfect. The year began with a vote in Bangladesh where Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was reelected to a fourth consecutive term in what was widely considered to be a highly flawed electoral process. A month later, Pakistan went to the polls with the "establishment" engaging in its usual machinations of pulling the strings of the country's politics. And as India went to the polls in the world's largest electoral exercise, questions and concerns were raised about the state of Indian democracy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government.

And yet, Chietigj Bajpaee argues, in all three countries democracy proved to be more resilient than initially thought.

In Bangladesh, the popular will prevailed as large-scale anti-government unrest ousted Hasina's government in August. In Pakistan, despite efforts to further marginalize jailed political leader Imran Khan, candidates affiliated with his party stood as independents during the election and secured the largest number of seats in the national assembly. In India, despite claims by the opposition that a third term for Modi would spell the death of Indian democracy, Modi's party -- the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -- was reelected for a third consecutive term but on a weakened mandate.

While it may be an exaggeration to refer to South Asia as a beacon of democracy, it is also apparent that in a region of its size and diversity with a long-standing history of dialogue, debate and disagreement, democracy remains well-entrenched and cannot be easily overturned.