Mar 09: The Election Commission of India (ECI) will host the 3rd International Conference on the theme ‘Inclusive Elections and Elections Integrity’ in virtual format on 09 March 2023. ECI is leading the Cohort on Elections Integrity which was established as a follow-up to the ‘Summit for Democracy’ held virtually in December 2021.
Over 46 Participants from 25 Countries/EMBs including Angola, Armenia, Australia, Canada, Chile Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Dominica, Georgia, Guyana, Kenya, Rep. of Korea, Mauritius, Moldova, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, St. Lucia, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland and Zambia as well as representatives of international organisations from International IDEA and International Foundation for Electoral systems and representatives from Civil Society Organisations viz. The General Election Network for Disability Access in Indonesia and the Association of Youth Organisations in Nepal are expected to participate in the Conference. Chief Election Commissioner Shri Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioners Shri Anup Chandra Pandey and Shri Arun Goel will also address the Conference.
The first international conference of the Cohort was organized on 31 Oct – 01 Nov 2022 at New Delhi on the topic ‘Role, Framework and Capacity of Election Management Bodies’ where nearly 50 representatives from the Election Management Bodies (EMBs) of 11 countries participated. The 2nd Conference on the theme ‘Use of Technology and Elections Integrity’ was hosted by ECI at New Delhi on 23-24 January 2023 wherein over 40 participants from 16 countries including Heads/Dy Heads of nine EMBs or Election Authorities and delegates from International IDEA and IFES participated besides diplomats from 8 foreign missions located at New Delhi.
Background
‘Summit for Democracy’, was an initiative of the US President hosted in December 2021. The Prime Minister of India spoke at the Leaders Plenary Session on December 9, 2021. Following this Summit, a “Year of Action” was proposed with events and dialogues on themes related to Democracy. The Summit also developed two platforms – ‘Focal Groups’ and ‘Democracy Cohorts’ to facilitate participation in the Year of Action. The 2nd Summit for Democracy is scheduled to be held on 29- 30 March 2023 and co-hosted by the governments of Costa Rica, Rep. of Korea, Netherlands, Zambia and the US.
ECI, as the lead for the Cohort on ‘Election Integrity’, has taken a collaborative approach and invited Greece, Mauritius and IFES to be co-leads for the Cohort. ECI has also invited International Foundation for Electoral Systems and International IDEA, apart from EMBs and Government counterparts dealing with the conduct of elections worldwide.
As part of the ‘Summit for Democracy’ Year of Action, India through the ECI, is leading the ‘Democracy Cohort on Election Integrity’ to share its knowledge, technical expertise and experiences with other democracies of the world. ECI, as its lead, has also organised four training and capacity-building programmes during Nov 2022 – Mar 2023, under the aegis of the Cohort for over 60 officials from 46 Election Management Bodies (EMBs) across the world.
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