TOKYO -- Southeast Asia faces mixed prospects for democracy after two contrasting elections this year -- one in Malaysia that sent a corrupt government packing and another in Cambodia that reinforced control of an authoritarian leader.
The Malaysian election in May stunned the world by bringing back 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister. The odds had been stacked against the opposition. Then-Prime Minister Najib Razak had redrawn the electoral map to his advantage and led a crackdown on "fake news" in an attempt to silence critics.
