Billions of people around the world voted in elections across more than 60 countries this past year. The results provide an assessment of the state of electoral democracy on a global level.
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Over the past year, you have heard us talking again and again about high-stakes elections all around the world.
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JUANA SUMMERS: Trump is now the country’s president-elect.
MARY LOUISE KELLY: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has claimed victory.
JENNIE LINCOLN: That the Venezuela election did not meet international standards.
DETROW: We talked about 2024 as a year of elections, with more than 4 billion people – about half the world’s population – living in countries where major elections were taking place, all of this happening at a moment where experts are worried that democracy is at risk. So on today’s show, we are going to spend the whole hour looking at it.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
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DETROW: 2024’s elections began in South Asia. Barely a week into the year, we had these results from Bangladesh.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: It’s going from being essentially a multiparty democracy to becoming more of a one-party state.
DETROW: That wasn’t the final word on Bangladesh’s democracy for the year, and we’ll have more on that in a moment. But meanwhile, a reformist won the presidency in Iran, and in India, the ruling party held onto power. In Venezuela, the opposition candidate said he was forced to sign a letter admitting defeat, though the U.S. and other countries recognized him as the winner over Nicolas Maduro. And in Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum made history as the country’s first woman president, riding her predecessor’s coattails into office.
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PRESIDENT CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM: (Non-English language spoken).
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DETROW: But in other parts of the world, incumbency was seen as a big negative to many voters looking to throw ruling parties and leaders out of office, like in South Africa, where the ruling party lost support in a pivotal election.
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EMMANUEL AKINWOTU: The historic result is a turning point for the party once led by Nelson Mandela.
DETROW: That global trend played out in the United States as well. Former President Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris, who had replaced the unpopular President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket midsummer.
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DONALD TRUMP: Thank you very much. Wow.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting) U.S.A. U.S.A. U.S.A. U.S.A.
DETROW: As this extraordinary year of global election draws to an end, experts continue to warn of democratic backsliding. And all of this leads to big questions about what comes next in this moment of populism and anger at incumbents and institutions.
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