ASSOCIATION OF ASIAN ELECTION AUTHORITIES

India Elected Chair Of Asian election body

    India has been unanimously elected as the new Chair of the Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA) for 2022-2024. The decision was taken at the recently held meeting of the Executive Board and General Assembly in Manila, Philippines, 2022. The Philippines is the outgoing chair of AAEA. The newly added members to the Executive board include Russia, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Taiwan and Philippines.

    The Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA) was established in 1998, in pursuance of the resolution passed by participants of the Symposium on Asian Elections in the 21st Century held from January 26-29, 1997 in Manila, Philippines. The new member of the Executive Board now includes Russia, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Taiwan, and the Philippines. Currently, 20 Asian EMBs are members of AAEA. The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a founder member of the Election Management Body (EMB) of the AAEA. India also served on the Executive Board of the AAEA as the Vice-Chair during 2011-13 and chaired during 2014-16. The Association of Asian Election Authorities aims to provide a non-partisan forum in the Asian region for sharing experiences and best practices among election authorities to discuss and act upon ways to promote open and transparent elections to support good governance and democracy. The AAEA was conceived to promote and institutionalise open and transparent elections, independent and impartial election authorities, professionalising Asian election authorities, citizen participation in the electoral and civic process, information sharing, and the development of resources for election-related information and research. 

     The ECI's three-member delegation headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Nitesh Vyas, along with Chief Electoral Officers of Manipur Rajesh Agarwal and Praveen Gupta of Rajasthan, attended the meeting. They presented the work plan for 2022-23 along with prospective activities to the Board. A presentation on Gender Issues in Elections was also given by the Indian delegation, during which it highlighted various concerted efforts and targeted interventions by India to break socio-political barriers in electoral and political processes for inclusive and participative elections. 

     Officials from many AAEA member countries have been regularly attending International Training Programmes conducted by the India International Institute for Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) from time to time. Since 2019, more than 250 officials from AAEA member countries have attended these programmes. IIIDEM also conducts customised capacity development training programmes for specific AAEA member countries. 50 officials of Bangladesh Election Commission were trained in 2021-22. Delegates from AAEA have also been regularly participating in the International Election Visitors Programme organised by the ECI. 

     Elections are very crucial for any democratic country. Having elected, India’s role has been aggrandised to strengthen AAEA in a more robust form. And expectation to take AAEA to a newer height has elevated. AAEA has consistently been updating itself by handling challenges in changing socio-political environment and proving itself in better manner. As India has taken the march forward, it is pertinent that India should prove itself as torchbearer.