Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA): India has been unanimously elected as the new Chair of the Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA) for 2022-2024.

Key Points:

• India was appointed as the new Chair of AAEA at the meeting of the Executive Board and General Assembly in Manila, the Philippines held on May 7th, 2022.
• Commission on Elections, Manila was the current chair of AAEA.
• India also served on the Executive Board of the AAEA as the Vice-Chair during 2011-13 and Chaired during 2014-16.

Election Commission of India:

• The Executive Board meeting in Manila was attended by The Election Commission of India's 3-member delegation headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Shri Nitesh Vyas, along with CEO Manipur Shri Rajesh Agrawal and CEO Rajasthan Shri Praveen Gupta.
• The Indian delegation presented the work plan for 2022-23 presented the work plan for 2022-23 as also futuristic activities for 2023-24 to the Executive Board.
• They also presented on ‘Gender Issues in Elections’ which highlighted various interventions by India to break socio-political barriers in electoral and political processes for inclusive and participative elections.

About AAEA:

• The Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA) was established in 1998.
• AAEA was established in pursuance of the resolution passed by participants of the Symposium on Asian Elections in the 21st Century held from January 26-29, 1997 in Manila, Philippines.
• It is a non-partisan forum that aims to provide a non-partisan forum in the Asian region for sharing experiences and best practices among election authorities to discuss and act upon ways to promote open and transparent elections to support good governance and democracy.
• The Election Commission of India (ECI) is the founding member of AAEA’s Election Management Body (EMB).

Members:

• The new member of the Executive Board now includes Russia, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
• Currently, 20 Asian EMBs are members of AAEA.