It's all things considered from NPR News. I'm Scott Detrow. Over the past year, you have heard us

talking again and again about high-stakes elections all around the world.

Trump is now the country's president-elect. India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, has claimed

victory. That the Venezuela election did not meet international standards. 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 in a moment when experts are worried democracy is at risk on a global

scale.

2024's elections began in South Asia.

Barely a week into the year, we had these results from Bangladesh. It's going from being essentially a multi-party democracy to becoming more of a one-party

state.

That wasn't the final word on Bangladesh's democracy for the year, and we'll have

more on that in a moment. Meanwhile, a reformist won the presidency in Iran, and in India, the ruling

party held on to 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 Nicholas

Maduro. And in Mexico, Claudia Shane countries recognized him as the winner over Nicholas Maduro.

And in Mexico, Claudia Shanebaum made history as the country's first woman president,

riding her predecessor's coattails into office.

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.

The historic result is a turning point for the party once led by Nelson Mandela.

That global trend played out in the United States as well.

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