Election Commission to conduct special training programme for Asian election officials

The Election Commission on Tuesday hosted the 2015 Executive Board meeting of the Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA) here, coinciding with the International Day of Democracy as declared by the United Nations.

Dr. Nasim Zaidi, being chairperson of AAEA for two years term presided over the meeting as the current Chair of the Executive Board. Senior representatives from Election Commission of Bhutan, Mongolia and Republic of Korea participated in the deliberations of the Executive Board.

Dr. Zaidi, chairperson of AAEA, stressed that organisation should make itself truly representative by admitting more Asian countries.

He also reiterated ECI's commitment to experience sharing and capacity building of EMBs in the region. The Executive Board decided to invite Election Authorities from other Asian countries to seek membership of the Association.

The Executive Board also agreed on an updated work plan for 2015-16, which would include exchange of experiences through election visits, conferences and seminars on election-related themes and capacity building of Election Authorities in the region. As part of the agreed Work Plan, ECI will conduct a special training programme in 2016 for AAEA members.

After the Executive Board meeting, ECI also hosted a half-day seminar on election-related themes where presentations were made by delegates from Bhutan, Mongolia and India.

The presentations from Bhutan and India focussed on voter education and inclusiveness in the electoral process, while Mongolia's presentation focussed on the use of automated systems in voter enrolment, voting and counting.

India is a founding member of AAEA which was established in 1998 and, with admission of three new members in 2014, now has 20 member-countries. Besides India, other members are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Kyrgyz Republic, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.