The secretary-general of an international forum of election management bodies hailed India's assent to lead the organisation, saying that democracy is unlikely to be "sustained by the same countries who led the charge for the past 80 years". ADVERTISEMENTThe Election Commission has assumed chairmanship of the IIDEA this year. Casas-Zamora, a former Costa Rican Vice-President and academic, spoke at the inaugural session of the India International Conference on Democracy and Election Management, here. Trump supporters did not accept the election of Joe Biden as President in 2024. If democracy is to be resilient, if democracy is to be renewed, then we need new champions to carry the torch.

Source: The Telegraph January 22, 2026 02:19 UTC