Washington, Mar 17 (IANS): Canada, Italy, South Africa and South Korea have been elected to join the leadership of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), a global movement that has led the charge for citizen-centred democracy around the world.

OGP CEO Sanjay Pradhan, a former World Bank vice president who is of Indian origin, hailed the move.

"Our job is to build a positive global movement for openness and deeper democracy, and act as a countervailing force against the rise of closed government and its manifestations, including restrictions on civic space, corruption and distrust in government," Pradhan said.

"The OGP can be a platform for citizens to engage their governments in new ways, and to tackle the toughest political problems in the world today."

The OGP Articles of Governance require all participating governments to vote to elect new representatives to the Steering Committee each year.

Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Mongolia, Nigeria, Paraguay, Philippines and Sri Lanka had also applied to the OGP Steering Committee.

The new members begin their three-year term on October 1.

The OGP was formally launched on September 20, 2011, on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly meeting, when eight heads of state, along with nine civil society leaders, endorsed the Open Government Declaration.

Now, it is composed of 75 national governments, 15 sub-national governments, seven multilateral organisations, and thousands of civil society organisations.

India is not a member of OGP.