South Asia is still struggling to deliver on promise of democracy

Brahma Chellaney is professor emeritus of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi and a former adviser to India's National Security Council. He is the author of nine books, including "Water: Asia's New Battleground."

The contrast between the elections held earlier this month in the mountain kingdom of Bhutan and that held in populous Bangladesh -- the former peaceful and the latter marred by violence and an opposition boycott -- underscore the challenges involved with consolidating democratic transitions in South Asia, a region with long autocratic traditions.