Nitya Chakraborty
In a span of three days this week, three largely populated countries — South Africa, Mexico and India got the results from the national elections and all three signalled the triumphant march of the vibrant democracy in each country. The results showed how the vigilant electorate punished the majority Hindu right party of India BJP by making into minority, brought down the majority of the African National Congress to 40 per cent and rewarded the leftwing MORENA coalition of Mexico by giving a resounding victory to its Presidential nominee for doing excellent work for improving the livelihood of the common people.
In South Africa, the national elections on May 29 and the results were announced on June 2. The African National Congress, the ruling party of the country for the last 30 years lost its majority status with voting figure of 40 per cent. This centre-left combination including the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the trade union body COSATU was punished by the electorate for their corruption in the recent years as also failure to deal with the problem of price rise and massive unemployment. ANC as the largest party is talking to other parties in the opposition for a coalition government before the Parliament meets in the middle of this month. The message from the electorate is clear- ANC can still rule but it has to mend its ways for a better pro-people governance.
South Africa has a population of more than six crore. It is a leader member of the BRICS which include Brazil, Russia, China and India also. President Cyril Ramaphosa is highly respected in the developing world. South African president has been consistently lambasting Israel for its genocide in Gaza. He was the one who asked the International Crimes Commission (ICC) to declare Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the war criminal. The South African electorate did not bring the Right opposition into the government but only cut to size the ruling ANC as a big warning which is justified.
But the situation is complete different in Mexico. The national elections were held in the South American country with more than 12 crore population on June 2 and the results were announced on June 3. The Presidential nominee of the ruling left wing coalition MORENA Claudia Sheinbaum got about 58.7 per cent votes as against the main right wing opposition candidate Xochiti Galvez’s 28.9 per cent. This means that the Left coalition candidate got double the votes of the Right opposition candidate. Apart, MORENA made a clean sweep in the elections to Parliament.
The President elect is the first female in Mexico’s history to occupy the supreme position. She is the sharer of the Nobel prize as a part of an inter governmental group of environmental scientists. She was chose by the incumbent president Obrador better known as AMLO who transformed the economy of Mexico in the last six years after he took over in 2024. AMLO has initiated the process of transformation to vastly improve the lives of the common people during his tenure. Mexican electorate has rewarded the MORENA coalition for his solid work among the common masses.
In India, the elections were held in seven phases from April 19 to June 1 and the results were out on June 4. Prime Minister Narendra Modi who ruled for ten years since 2014 was again elected through with a slender majority. BJP which had 303 seats of its own in Lok Sabha in the 17th Lok Sabha, came down to the minority of 240 as against the majority level of 272 in the 543 member Lok Sabha. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is starting his new term as the leader of the coalition NDA which has just 292 members only twenty above the majority level. The opposition INDIA bloc led by the Congress Party has got around 234 seats.
The post 2024 Lok Sabha election scenario is completely different in India with the BJP in a battered condition, Prime Minister weakened and the INDIA bloc and the Congress in a resurgent mood. The third term of the Narendra Modi government, expected to begin after the swearing in on June 8 will not be smooth. The alert electorate of India has cut to size the BJP and told INDIA bloc that the combine has to do more now to be able to replace the NDA regime at the appropriate time.
Thus in all three countries, India, South Africa and Mexico, the electorate have acted based on their understanding of the ground reality of the political situation and the performance of the respective governments. The ruling governments in India and South Africa have been punished but they have been allowed to rule with diminished status. The Left MORENA coalition in Mexico has been handsomely rewarded for their great performance. In all three, the electorates have showed their great understanding of democracy. The performers have been rewarded and the laggards have been punished. (IPA)
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