Will democracy prevail in Asia in 2025?

By Emma Hogan, Asia editor, The Economist

Fans of democracy breathed a sigh of relief in June 2024, when India’s electorate returned Narendra Modi, the prime minister, to government with a weakened mandate. Mr Modi had been gunning for a landslide win for his third term, boasting beforehand of how his party would win 400 of the 543 seats, giving him free rein to ram through legislation. But his Bharatiya Janata Party (bjp) managed to garner only 240 seats, which has forced Mr Modi to govern in a coalition, tempering his Hindu-nationalist agenda and some of his strongman instincts.