
More than a billion people will head to the polls across South Asia in 2024
CNN
An election boycotted by the main opposition as the world’s longest serving female prime minister looks set to extend her rule.
An election boycotted by the main opposition as the world’s longest serving female prime minister looks set to extend her rule. A cricket legend and former prime minister languishing in prison versus a one-time fugitive looking to make a comeback as a powerful military keeps watch. A populist leader hoping to enter his second decade in power as he pushes a popular but religiously divisive brand of politics. And an island nation recovering from its worst economic crisis in decades after protesters stormed the presidential palace. Four South Asian countries are expected to head to the polls next year, in a grand test for democracy that will see nearly 2 billion people across Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka cast their ballots from January through September. All former colonies who gained independence from Britain within the last century, each are at a different stage of growth and facing a variety of crises and opportunities.