The debate around age limits for politicians will get louder in 2025

By Leo Mirani, Asia correspondent, The Economist

The American presidential election of 2024 was groundbreaking in many ways, not least in its elevation to the highest office, for the first time, of a convicted felon. But it established another precedent too: that age is a consideration when running for president. American voters, Democratic Party powerbrokers and eventually President Joe Biden himself concluded that 81 was too old to run for another four-year term. Does it make sense for democratic societies to enshrine such limits into law?