New Delhi, May 11 (IANS): India has been unanimously elected as the new Chair of the Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA) for 2022-2024, it was announced on Wednesday.

According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), the decision came at a meeting of the Executive Board and General Assembly in Manila on May 7.

The Philippines is the outgoing chair of AAEA.

The ECI further said that Russia, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Taiwan, and Philippines are the new members of the Executive Board of the AAEA.

The ECI's three-member delegation headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Nitesh Vyas, along with Chief Electoral Officers of Manipur Rajesh Agrawl and Praveen Gupta of Rajasthan, attended the meeting.

They presented the work plan for 2022-23 along with prospective activities to the Board.

A presentation on Gender Issues in Elections was also given by the Indian delegation, during which it highlighted various concerted efforts and targeted interventions by India to break socio-political barriers in electoral and political processes for inclusive and participative elections.

The mission of the AAEA is to provide a non-partisan forum in the Asian region for sharing experiences and best practices among election authorities and to discuss and act upon ways to promote open and transparent elections with the objective of supporting good governance and democracy.

Officials from many AAEA member countries have been regularly attending International Training Programmes conducted by the India International Institute for Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) from time to time.

Since 2019, more than 250 officials from AAEA member countries have attended these programmes.

IIIDEM also conducts customised capacity development training programmes for specific AAEA member countries. Ffity officials of Bangladesh Election Commission were trained in 2021-22.

Delegates from AAEA have also been regularly participating in the International Election Visitors Programme organised by the ECI.