Election Commission of India recently hosted International Virtual Election Visitors Programme (IEVP) 2021 for Election Management Bodies (EMBs) /Organisations from 26 countries and three International Organisations during the ongoing elections for Legislative Assemblies of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. On the sidelines of IEVP 2021, the Chief Election Commissioner also released the maiden issue of A-WEB India Journal of Elections.
The programme aims to provide the participants with an overview of the large canvas of the Indian electoral process. The ECI will take new initiatives on voter facilitation, transparency and accessibility of the electoral system. ECI’s response to the changing needs of training and capacity building and New formats necessitated by COVID-19.
A-WEB is the first global organization of election management bodies, and the membership currently consists of 115EMBs as members and 20 Regional associations as associate members. It was established on 2013 in Song-do, South Korea.
Under the slogan of ‘Democracy to Grow for All Worldwide,’ the A-WEB Secretariat provides training programs for election officials of member nations and undertakes country programs at the request of member organization, providing support during the election cycle to boost election management capacity.
A-WEB undertakes Election Visitor and Observation Programmes in various countries. These programs aim to study various election management practices and share knowledge with other Member of EMBs.
A-WEB has three main bodies. The Executive Board serves the executive function and meets yearly to make decisions on A-WEB's general direction. It consists of up to ten member organizations and the Board must maintain a continental balance.