Chief Election Commissioner of India, Sushil Chandra urged the Indian community living in South Africa and Mauritius to register as overseas voters, as the present numbers are abysmally low.
He also shared with the members that the extension of the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) facility to overseas voters is being contemplated. CEC visited South Africa and Mauritius from April 9-19, 2022. During this visit, a series of meetings were held with the Election Commission of South Africa and Mauritius as well as interactions with the large NRI community in the two countries. Both Election Management Bodies (EMBs) are also MoU partners with ECI. The three countries share a relationship that is fundamental, unique, and rooted in the collective experiences and cumulative strength of their people.
A major highlight of the visit was the rare occasion of a tripartite meeting between ECI, Glen Mashinini, Chairperson, Electoral Commission of South Africa, and Jonghyun Choe, Secretary-General, Association of World Election Bodies (AWEB) held at Pretoria on April 12, 2022. India is currently the Chair of AWEB, the largest conglomeration of 118 EMBs in the world and South Africa is the Vice-Chair.
As AWEB completes ten years of its foundation and stepped into a new decade, the meeting was positioned at the right juncture wherein it was time to reflect on the way forward for AWEB as an organization. AWEB provides a unique platform for the exchange of knowledge and information between its members.
During the meeting, it was acknowledged that this umbrella organization had EMBs with a lot of experience and expertise who could assist and advise those EMBs who were looking for further development and up-gradation of their systems. It was felt that the focus must now be on increasing membership and enhancing the sense of belonging of the members. More avenues must be explored so that the members can interact and meet more often.
In the meeting, CEC Sushil Chandra expressed profound appreciation to the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of South Africa for organizing this meeting.
He said that South Africa has made big strides in democracy and would be hosting the next General Assembly of AWEB in October 2022.
India has a very intense and active association with AWEB. Both India and South Africa are the founding members of this organization. He stated that coming to the land which made Mahatma out of Gandhiji and the land of Nelson Mandela was a veritable pilgrimage for him.