Cohort On Election Integrity by ECI

Cohort on Election Integrity by ECI- Relevance for UPSC Exam

Cohort on Election Integrity by ECI: It is being organized by the Election Commission of India (ECI) as a follow on to the ‘Summit for Democracy’ held in December, 2021. ‘Summit for Democracy’ is important for UPSC Prelims Exam (International News) and UPSC Mains Exam (GS Paper 2- International Relations).

Cohort on Election Integrity by ECI- Why in News?

• Recently, Chief Election Commissioner of India Shri Rajiv Kumar along with Election Commissioner Shri Anup Chandra Pandey today inaugurated a two day international conference on Election Integrity, with EMBs worldwide.

Cohort on Election Integrity by ECI Theme and Organizers

• Organizer: The ECI leads the Cohort on Election Integrity – which was established as a follow on to the ‘Summit for Democracy’ held in December, 2021.
  • Greece, Mauritius and IFES are to be co-leads for the Cohort.
  • ECI also invited UNDP and International IDEA, apart from EMBs and Government counterparts dealing with the conduct of elections worldwide.
• Theme: Cohort on Election Integrity is being organized on the theme ‘Role, Framework & Capacity of Election Management Bodies’ at New Delhi.

Cohort on Election Integrity by ECI- Key Sessions

• The inaugural session will be chaired by the CEC who will deliver the keynote address. Prior to that, US Charge d’ Affaires will also address the Conference.
• The first session on the ‘Current challenges’ faced by EMBs will be co-chaired by the Electoral Commissioner of Mauritius & Nepal.
  • The session will have presentations from Election Authorities in Mexico, Chile, Nepal & Greece.
• The second session on ‘Future Challenges’ is to be co-chaired by Secretary General, International IDEA and the Head of the Department of Elections and Political Parties, Directorate of Elections, Ministry of Interior, Hellenic Republic, Greece.
  • The session will have presentations from representatives of the Australian Electoral Commission & COMELEC, Philippines.
• The session on Day-2 ‘Capacity of EMBs’ will be chaired by President & CEO IFES.
• The concluding session of the Conference on 1st November, 2022 which will also see the summary of the proceedings being presented, will be chaired by Election Commissioner who will deliver his address.
• A special virtual session to enable stakeholders, who could not send delegation to New Delhi, is scheduled on 1st November, 2022 at 6:00 PM.
  • USA, US AID will be participating along with other delegations.

Democracy Summit- Important Details 

• About: The Summit for Democracy is an initiative the US President with an aim to “renew the spirit and shared purpose” of the nations of the Free World.
  • Global Summit for Democracy is to be an annual summit. Summit for Democracy 2022 is expected to be an in-person meeting.
• Key Objective: Global Summit for Democracy aims to bring together the world’s democracies-
  • To strengthen their democratic institutions,
  • Honestly confront the challenge of nations that are backsliding, and
  • Forge a common agenda to address threats to our common values.
• Key Themes of Democratic Summit: Global Summit for Democracy will be held around three themes:

1. 1. Defending against authoritarianism,
   2. Fighting corruption,
   3. Promoting respect for human rights.

• Participation: This virtual Democratic Summit envisages the participation of leaders from government, civil society, and the private sector.
  • The invitees from the Asia-Pacific region to the Democratic Summit 2021 included India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Pakistan, Maldives, and the Philippines.
  • Countries like China and Bangladesh were not invited to the first Summit for Democracies.

Democracy Summit: India Participated in first Summit for Democracy

Democracy Summit: India Participated in first Summit for Democracy

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