Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB)

17th July, 2023 International Relations

Disclaimer: Copyright infringement not intended.

Context

Chief Election Commissioner Shri Rajiv Kumar led a three-member Election Commission of India (ECI) delegation to Cartagena, Colombia to attend the 11th meeting of the Executive Board of the Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB).

Association of World Election Bodies

Creation

The National Election Commission of the Republic of Korea first proposed the creation of a global election management body institution to the Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA) in 2010.
After a series of Working Group meetings, a Charter was drawn up and the name A-WEB was chosen upon the suggestion of the Election Commission of India.

Inauguration

The Association of World Election Bodies, commonly referred to as ‘A-WEB’, was established on October 14, 2013 in Song-do, South Korea.

About

A-WEB is the first global organization of election management bodies.

Vision

It was formed on the shared vision among its members of achieving sustainable democracy around the world through the strengthening of the processes of election management in member countries.

Membership

The membership currently consists of 118 EMBs as members and 20 Regional associations as associate members.

Slogan and Mandate

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 organizations, providing support during the election cycle to boost election management capacity.

Structure

A-WEB has three main bodies.

Executive Board

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. The more members there are from a particular continent, the more members of the Executive Board should be from that continent. The Executive Board is headed by a Chairperson who leads the meetings of the board.

General Assembly

The remaining members make up the second body, the General Assembly. The General Assembly convenes once every two years and votes on important issues related to A-WEB and decisions made by the Executive Board. The General Assembly also elects the members of the Executive Board and confirms the induction of new member organizations.

Secretariat

Finally, the secretariat carries out the general administrative work of A-WEB and is based in the country where the Secretary-General (elected by the Executive Board) resides.
Currently, the secretariat is based in Song-do, South Korea. Other member countries send secondee staff to operate the office.

Current Chairman

The current chairman is Sushil Chandra from Republic of India.

A-WEB Programs

Election Management Capacity Building Program

A-WEB organizes the Election Management Capacity Building Program for election officials to strengthen their election management capacity and manage their elections more effectively and professionally in the future.
More specifically, the Election Management Capacity Building Program aims:
to support the participants to study various electoral systems, discussing issues and challenges each EMB is facing and come up with solutions to the shared problems;
to provide an opportunity to exchange good practices and learn an international standard of election management;
to establish a network of election officials around the world and encourage them to share their experiences and expertise.
Diverse professional electoral stakeholders are invited as a guest lecturer to help participants have a better understanding of all aspects of election management and the electoral cycle. The program also enables the participants to learn not only from the lecturer(s), but also from amongst the participants themselves through interactive discussions.
Each program addresses a particular topic on the electoral process such as political participation of marginalized groups, gender equality, and media in election management, giving the participants a chance to consider overlooked elements that may affect the fairness of their election management.

Country Programs

Country Programs aim to strengthen the accuracy in election processes by improving systems related to election management and support the establishment of ‘good governance’ based on the needs and demands of EMBs.

Election Visitor Program

A-WEB Election Visitor Program aims to increase understanding of different election systems and to share and spread better practices and the use of ICT in elections through observing election administration of member EMBs, as the article 4.1. of A-WEB charter; Encourage the development and promotion of a democratic culture and an environment conducive to the holding of free, fair, transparent and participative elections.

India and A-WEB

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has been very closely associated with the process of formation of A-WEB since 2011-12 and has been its Executive Board Member, since its inception in October 2013 for two consecutive terms (2013-15 and 2015-17).
ECI took over as Vice-Chairperson of A-WEB for 2017-19 term; as Chair for 2019-22 term and is presently a member of its Executive Board for 2022-24 in its capacity as immediate former Chair of A-WEB.
In November 2022 during the 5th General Assembly meeting of A-WEB at Cape Town, Chief Election Commissioner Shri Rajiv Kumar handed over the A-WEB Chairmanship from ECI to Election Commission of South Africa, after leading the EMBs successfully during the covid pandemic (2019-2022).
A-WEB organizes capacity-building programs for its member EMBs and undertakes Election Visitor and Observation Programmes in various countries to study election management practices and share knowledge with other member EMBs.

India A-WEB Centre

As per the decision taken at the meeting of the A-WEB Executive Board held in Bengaluru in Sep 2019, an India A-WEB Centre has been established at New Delhi for documentation and research for sharing the best practices and training and capacity building of officials of A-WEB members.
The Centre is bringing out several publications and documents, including a world-class Journal titled ‘A-WEB India Journal of Elections.’ The ECI is providing all the necessary resources for the India A-WEB Centre.

PRACTICE QUESTION

Q. Consider the following statements with reference to the Association of World Election Bodies:

1. The Association of World Election Bodies is the first global organization of election management bodies.

2. A-WEB was chosen upon the suggestion of the Election Commission of India.

3. Currently, the secretariat of A-WEB is based in Song-do, South Korea.

4. The current chairman is Sushil Chandra from the Republic of India.

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(d) All of the above.

Correct Answer: (d) All of the above.