(New Delhi) Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepares for a third term on Thursday after elections that were much closer than expected and forced him to reach a coalition agreement.
His Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has governed for the past ten years with an absolute majority, expected another landslide victory. But results of the six-week-long poll released on Tuesday showed the BJP had lost its majority, forcing it to negotiate to form an alliance.
This group of 15 parties, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), announced an agreement at the end of the day on Wednesday to form a government. “We all unanimously chose respected NDA leader Narendra Modi as our leader,” it said in a statement.
The alliance has 293 seats in Parliament, more than half of the 543 seats in the assembly.
Narendra Modi will be sworn in as prime minister for the third time on Saturday, according to Indian media.
But his new mandate should be more difficult, analysts and the media predict, because the head of government will now have to deal with his partners.
The “minefield of coalition politics” will make it difficult for Narendra Modi, warns the Hindustan Times in its editorial on Thursday. “Consensus building should be the foundation of governance,” adds the newspaper.
On the international scene, messages of congratulations followed one another.
US President Joe Biden congratulated Narendra Modi on his victory, saying he wanted to work for a “free and open” Asia. He declared on X that he saw between the two countries “a common future with unlimited potential”.
French President Emmanuel Macron sent his congratulations to his “dear friend” on the same social network, with a selfie showing the two leaders, assuring that he wanted to continue to “strengthen the strategic partnership that unites India and France”.
Neighboring major power rival China congratulated the coalition led by Narendra Modi and said it was “ready to work” with India.
Russia, Japan and the United Kingdom also expressed their congratulations to the Indian prime minister, as did European Council President Charles Michel, calling on him to “deepen the strategic partnership” between the EU and India.
The 73-year-old leader assured that he will continue his program after the elections despite his reduced majority.
“This third term will be one of big decisions. The country will write a new chapter in its development. I guarantee it,” Mr. Modi told a cheering crowd in the capital, New Delhi.
Analysts and exit polls had predicted a landslide victory for Narendra Modi, who has been accused of jailing opposition leaders and trampling on the rights of India’s strong Muslim community. more than 200 million people.
The BJP won 240 seats in Parliament, 32 seats short of an absolute majority and significantly below the 303 seats won in 2019.
Against all expectations, the Congress, the main opposition party, acquired 99 seats, almost doubling its 2019 score (52 seats).
“Today’s masters are no longer as strong as they were,” noted Christophe Jaffrelot, professor at King’s College London, in the daily The Hindu on Thursday. “For the first time in his political career, Narendra Modi will have to play the coalition game.”
Another disappointment for Narendra Modi was that he was re-elected in his constituency of Varanasi, the capital of Hinduism in India, with a much smaller margin.
“The elections showed a desire to defend constitutional values and the dignity of citizens,” noted Ashutosh Varshney, political scientist at the American Brown University, in the Indian Express daily on Thursday.
Mr. Varshney believes that Mr. Modi’s decline is linked to “rising tensions and polarization within society, and citizens’ concerns about their rights and the significant increase in inequality.”