Twenty Four Heads of Elections Commissions from 8 countries of the Middle East and Africa have just finished witnessing the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi. The delegates included Chief Election Commissioners/ Commissioners from South Sudan, Jordan, Gambia and Guinea Bissau and senior representatives from Iraq, Lebanon, Nigeria and Senegal.
While the four South Sudan Commissioners witnessed polling in Madhya Pradesh, the delegations from the other countries saw the elections in Delhi, visited two model polling stations and also tried their hand at mock polling through the newly introduced VVPAT machines. The delegations from Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon also witnessed elections in Rajasthan in addition to Delhi.
In their debriefing sessions with ECI, chaired by V. S. Sampath, Chief Election Commissioner of India, all the delegations paid rich tributes to the meticulous planning for elections and its detailed on-the-ground implementation in the states visited by them.
They complimented the efforts made in polling station management, campaign regulation, voter education, logistics in all the places they visited and the model polling stations in the New Delhi constituency.Many delegates expressed interest in transfer of EVM technology to their countries and also sought ECI’s assistance in capacity building of their officials, particularly through the training facilities at India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM), which has already conducted over 13 international training programmes and workshops since its inception in June 2011.
Mr. V.S. Sampath, in his address to the delegates, expressed ECI’s readiness to share the Commission’s expertise and experience with more countries, under UNDP aegis for the 2014 General Elections. He suggested holding of an international workshop for senior election officials to share experiences and discuss improvements in election management strategies.
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