ECI to host meeting of election management bodies of South Asia

The Election Commission of India will host the 10th annual meeting of the Forum of the Election Management Bodies of South Asia (FEMBoSA) here and take over as chair of the orgsation for 2020.

An international conference on the theme 'Strengthening Institutional Capacity' will also be orgsed.

An ECI release said that FEMBoSA was established at the conference of heads of election management bodies (EMBs) of SAARC countries held at New Delhi in 2012 through a unmously adopted resolution.

The annual FEMBoSA meeting is held by rotation among the members.

The last annual meeting was held in Dhaka in September 2018. Besides ECI, the other members are EMBs from Afghstan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The conference on 'Strengthening Institutional Capacity' would include delegates from members of FEMBoSA, participants from EMBs of Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgystan Mauritius, Tunisia and three international orgsations - the Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB) based in Seoul, the US-based International Foundation of Electoral Systems (IFES) and International IDEA.

On the sidelines of the Conference, ECI will also renew Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on cooperation in election management with the Independent Election Commission of Afghstan.

An MoU for cooperation in the field of election management will also be signed with the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) of Tunisia

( With inputs from ANI )