NEW DELHI: Chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar will on December 3 take up chairship of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IIDEA) for the year 2026 in Stockholm, reflecting a “global recognition of the Election Commission’s standing as one of the world’s most credible and innovative election management bodies (EMBs),” as per EC.IIDEA is an intergovernmental organisation created in February 1995, with India as a founding member, to support sustainable democracy worldwide. It has, over the past three decades, evolved into a key global convenor for EMBs, constitutional experts, political institutions and democratic practitioners from across continents. It currently comprises 35 member countries including Australia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Mauritius, South Africa, Chile and Sweden, with the US and Japan acting as observer states. Electoral processes and electoral research are among its focus areas. IIDEA through its council of member states annually elects a chair and two vice-chairs. Its present chairship is held by Switzerland and will now pass on to India.
As Chair, Kumar will be presiding over all council meetings through 2026. EC in a statement on Wednesday said the CEC “will leverage the country’s unmatched experience of conducting the world’s largest elections to shape IIDEA’s global agenda”. Ironically, the international appreciation and IIDEA leadership for the CEC comes against the backdrop of constant attacks faced by him and EC from the opposition parties here, on the electoral roll health and the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise.“The collaboration (between EC and IIDEA) will strengthen knowledge-sharing, reinforce professional networks among EMBs, and support evidence-based global electoral reforms,” the poll panel underlined on Wednesday.It added that “Kumar will leverage the country’s unmatched experience of conducting the world’s largest elections to shape IIDEA’s global agenda”.According to EC, India, with the world’s largest electorate of 1 billion and well-documented, transparent electoral processes, will share its best practices with EMBs from across the world, in the coming year. Joint programmes, workshops, and research collaborations between ECI-run India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) and IIDEA will further enhance global readiness to respond to challenges such as disinformation, electoral violence, and erosion of voter trust, said the commission.