Election Commission to host virtual Asian Regional Forum meet on Making our Elections Inclusive, Accessible and Participative
Asian Regional Forum meet is a precursor to “Global
Summit for Democracy” to be hosted by the National Electoral Institute of
Mexico
Five Regional Forums for America, Africa, Asia, Europe and North Africa &
Middle East created as part of Global Summit for Democracy
The Election Commission of India will be hosting a virtual meet of the
‘Asian Regional Forum’ on the theme “Making our Elections Inclusive, Accessible
and Participative” at Nirvachan Sadan on August 11, 2022. This Regional Forum
meet is precursor to the “Global Summit for Democracy'' to be hosted by the
National Electoral Institute of Mexico in the coming month. The Global Summit
and Regional Forum meets aims to generate synergy amongst international
organizations, electoral bodies from the world and to promote intellectual and
institutional mobilization to strengthen electoral democracy in the world.
Chief Election Commissioner of India, Rajiv Kumar, and Election
Commissioner, Anup Chandra Pandey, will preside over the Asian Regional Forum
meet. The meet will have participation from Election Management Bodies of
Mexico, Mauritius, Philippines, Nepal, Uzbekistan, Maldives and Representatives
from International IDEA, Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB) and
International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).
This Asian Regional Forum (ARF) meet has two sessions. The first session
is on ‘Inclusive Elections: Enhancing Participation of Youth, Gender and
Citizens in Remote Areas’ which will be co-chaired by the Chief
Election Commissioner from Mauritius and Nepal. The session will have
representation from COMELEC Philippines and representatives from International
IDEA and A-WEB.
The second session on ‘Accessible Elections: Enhancing Participation
of Persons with Disabilities & Senior Citizens’ will be
chaired by the Commissioner, COMELEC, Philippines and CEC of Uzbekistan and
will have representation from Election Commission of Nepal & Maldives and
IFES (Asia Pacific).
As part of this ‘Global Summit for Democracy’, five Regional Forums
namely Africa, America, Asia, Europe, and countries of the Arab States have
been created. India is hosting the Asian Regional Forum meet of the EMBs not
only to institutionalize and mobilize the EMBs as a precursor to “Global Summit
for Democracy'' but also to reflect upon the changing geo-politics, emerging
technologies and their use in election management in view of the challenges
presented by COVID-19 pandemic. Outcomes from the Regional Forum Meets is aimed
at generating an action plan and agenda to strengthen democracy around the
world, particularly through robust election processes. So far, three Regional
Forum meets for Europe, America and Africa have been held in the months of June
and July, 2022.