Video of CEC Talking About India Chairing International IDEA Is Misleading
The chair is elected from a predetermined group, which is decided well in advance.
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A video of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, where he could be heard talking about India being invited to chair the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, International IDEA, is going viral on the internet.
What else did he say?: Kumar said that the India has been invited to chair the body for the first time in its history of 30 years. He described it as a moment of immense pride for Indian citizens and ECI officials.
This post had clocked over a million views on the platform at the time of writing this report.
What are the facts?: As per International IDEA's Rules of Procedure, the chairship for the upcoming years are determined on a rotational basis. This means that the viral claim is misleading.
How did we find that out?: We went through the official website of International IDEA and found a press release shared on 3 December, which talked about India assuming the annual chairship from Switzerland.
It said that India is a founding member of the body and will oversee the governance of the council that includes 35 member states.
Mauritius and Mexico will serve as vice chairs.
Towards the end, the release said, "India has been a Member State of International IDEA since 1995. The Institute’s Council of Member States has an annually and regionally rotating Chairship, with new Chairs and Vice Chairs elected each December by the Member States."
This indicated that the chairship rotated each year, where member states elect the chair.
The press release was shared on 3 December.
(Source: International IDEA/Screenshot)
What did Rules of Procedure show?: The document, which was approved on 6 December 2024, showed that the council elects a chair and two vice chairs among its members for one term.
This election is usually based on Annex 1 - List of Chairship Group rotation.
The group rotation carries the names of member states that can be elected for the chairship.
The council elects one chair and two vice chairs.
(Source: International IDEA/Screenshot)
Details on the chairship group: The Annex-I carried the rotational chairship groups of different member states from each year till 2023. This meant that the allocation happened well in advance.
India was also the proposed chair, which can be seen at the bottom of this page in the document.
The rotational system assigns a specific year for different member states.
(Source: International IDEA/Screenshot)
Conclusion: It is evident that the viral claim is misleading as the chair is elected from a predetermined rotational group.
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