India Assumes Chairship of International IDEA 2026

Context

India’s Election Commission of India has been elected as the chairship of International IDEA for 2026, an inter-government organization supporting democracy across the world.

About International IDEA

International Institute for Democracy & Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) is an intergovernmental organisation that supports democracy worldwide.

International IDEA works by four ways:

• Providing Knowledge on Democracy and improving the same.
• Capacity Development 
• Convening of Dialogues
• Advocacy

Current membership of International IDEA

• Founded in 1995.
• Membership Criteria: Membership is open to governments which demonstrate, by example in their own state, their commitment to rule of law, human rights, basic principles of democratic pluralism and strengthening democracy.
• Current Members: 35 Full Members, including India.
• Observer States: USA and Japan have observer status.
• Chairship of International IDEA: Each year

Organisational Structure of International IDEA

International IDEA is government by its Council of Member States, Steering Committee,

Council of Members: Has representation of all member states from across the globe.

Chairship: Each year, the Council elects a Chair and Two Vice-Chairs among its Member States. The Chairship term runs from the end of the annual Council meeting to the next annual Council meeting.

Current Chairship: India has assumed the chairship for 2026 with Mauritius and Mexico being elected as Vice-Chairs.

Key role of International IDEA

• Democracy Assessment:
  • International IDEA publishes Global State of Democracy reports and indices for providing accurate, detailed and timely information on democratic performance across the world.
  • Publishes Democracy Tracker which continually monitors 173 nations.
• Electoral Processes: Risk management in elections, special voting arrangements, future of electoral assistance for supporting electoral management bodies and election officials.
• Constitution Building & Rule of Law: Develop comparative knowledge and advice on constitutional design, constitution building processes, rule of law in fragile and mature democracies.
• Political Participation & Representation: Support political parties, parliaments, women in youth with knowledge and capacity development, with an increasing focus on new forms of political participation and representation.
• Money in politics: Produce data & research, provide technical assistance to political finance oversight agencies and political parties, and support peer to peer learning among practitioners.
• Climate change: develop research and tools that can help democracies tackle the climate crisis.

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