New Delhi: With Egypt gearing up for
transition to democracy, the United Nation has invited India
and a few other countries to Cairo to extend help and
expertise in holding elections.
20.
Representatives from Lebanon, Tunisia, Bahrain,
Jordan, Libya and Yemen are also attending the meeting being
organised by UN in the Egyptian capital through United Nations
Development Programme.
The meet on 'Electoral Assistance for the Arab Region'
will be held on May 2 and would be attended by senior
officials from Election Commission of India (ECI) such as
Director General Akshay Rout and Deputy Election Commissioner
Alok Shukla.
"The meeting will bring together UNDP practitioners to
review UN Policy on electoral assistance, assess how electoral
assistance is delivered in the (Arab) region, identify needs
in this area and on this basis devise a strategy for electoral
assistance in the Arab region," said a statement issued by the
ECI today.
In all, about 60 delegates would be participating in
the meeting, it said, adding, "election management bodies of
only three democratic countries such as India, South Africa
and Mexico have been invited to this meeting".
The invitation comes in the backdrop of Chief Election
Commissioner of India S.Y. Quraishi leading a delegation to
Egypt from April 20 to 22,at the request of Interim
Government in Egypt to explore possibilities of India's
support to Egypt in its electoral process.
The Egyptian side wanted Election Commission of India
to share its experience in Voters' education, EVM and
technology based election tracking and facilitation system,
the statement said.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, May 01, 2011, 17:03