The Pilot Series: Rejection Year

Welcome to The Pilot Series, where every episode is a pilot for a new podcast. This episode features Rejection Year.

2024 will be remembered as a year of choice. A year of decisions. A year of protests. And, most importantly, a year of elections.

In fact, 2024 saw the most elections in a single year in history. And this matters even more so because the incumbents? They’re out! Well, most of them. From Rishi Sunak to Joe Biden, from Sheikh Hasina to Bashar al-Assad. 

But why?

That’s what Rejection Year’s mission is to find out. We speak to the people at the heart of these elections – the voters – to understand what makes them tick, what makes them move and what makes them go to the polls… or boycott them altogether.

Our first episode covers Bangladesh where a rigged election followed by mass protests over a controversial quota system forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee the country. We hear an on-the-ground account from KM Humayed and illuminating analysis from Professor David Lewis, from the Department of International Development at the London School of Economics.

Hosted by Yaman Mohammed.

Produced by Isabella Anderson, Lucy Antonatos, Finlay MacRae, and Yaman Mohammed.

Original music by Lowkey.

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