CEC Sunil Arora takes charge as AWEB Chairman

September 4, 2019

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora assumed Chairmanship of Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB) for the term 2019-21. India has taken over the AWEB Chair from Romania for two year period. AWEB is a multilateral platform for election management bodies from across the world to share best electoral practices.

Key Highlights

Background: India was unanimously nominated to be Vice-Chair of AWEB at the last General Assembly held at Bucharest (Capital of Romania) in 2017.

AWEB Flag was handed over to the new Chairman, Sunil Arora. This flag will remain with Election Commission of India (ECI) for 2 year term till 2021.

More than 110 delegates from 45 countries attended the meeting held in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

An AWEB Centre would be set up at India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) in New Delhi for documentation, research and training and for sharing best practices.

Association of World Election Bodies (AWEB)

It was established in October 2013 and has been empowering democratic framework of member countries since then.

With 120 EMBs (election management bodies) from 111 countries as its members and 21 international organisations as associate members, it has become the largest global organisation of EMBs.

It provides momentum to spread of electoral democracy.

Significance: As a number of nascent democracies are still working to stabilize their political system by improving their legal and electoral systems thereby, organizations such as AWEB could provide professional support and advice by sharing experience, skills and innovations with support and participation of its Member nations.