Al Ahram, p.10, (22/1/2007)

The Indian Election Commission

Dr. Mohammad El Sayed Said

The constitutional amendments discussed by the People's Assembly include the establishment of an election commission to supervise the general elections.

I recommend that Egypt will copy the Indian experience in this regard. There is no doubt that India is the largest democracy in the world. It is a leading developing country. If we copy the Indian experience in the field of democracy, it will be a great achievement.

The powers of the Indian Election Commission:

The Indian election commission was established in January 25, 1950 as per article no.324 of the Indian constitution. Since then, the commission managed to supervise the largest elections in the third world with a great deal of efficiency and fairness. Suffice it to say that the number of voters in the recent elections held in India reached more than 670 million citizens. For running the elections, the commission was in need of hiring 5 million civil servants to supervise the voting process while its general secretariat comprised 300 employees.

In spite of the huge size of this commission, the general election is held on a span of several days and not on one day.

The Indian election commission is totally responsible for the parliamentary elections on the national and state levels. It is also responsible for the elections of the president and vice president. This means that "it supervises, guides, controls all aspects of the election process".

The responsibility of the committee includes "preparing, maintaining and updating voters' lists, supervising the nomination of candidates, registering political parties, and overseeing the election campaigns and their financing.

The Indian election commission registers the political parties while the political parties' law in Egypt authorizes another administrative commission to give approval to political parties.

The Indian election commission enjoys full independence from the executive body in the state. The president appoints the high commissioner of the commission. As per the Indian constitution, the president holds an honorary position and does not rule except in exceptional circumstance when the emergency law is applied as per article 356 of the Indian constitution.

The elected government is the executive power and it manages the administrative system of the state. Thus, the election commission is to ensure that the ruling party will not manipulate with the coming elections for forming a new government. In Egypt, the government is the body that supervises the general elections.

Electoral traditions:

As per the Indian constitution, the election commission supervises all government bodies during the time of holding the general elections. This means that the commission would have full control over the paramilitary troops and the police as well as all state property and their staff. This action guarantees the fairness of the elections. I have no doubt that all democratic powers in Egypt would welcome the idea of establishing such a commission as the actual intervention of the police in the election process represents a great concern to all of us.

The commission also acts as a judiciary body for solving election disputes. This means that it is the body that finally names the parliament members.

The responsibilities of the Indian election commission enabled it to have wide experience regarding the electoral and voting traditions. The commission gives very detailed instructions about the actual practice of voting and the duties of candidates.

The Indian constitution allows independent candidates to participate in the elections although the majority of winners belong to political parties that are considered the strongest and most powerful parties in the world.

It is well known that India is the first country in the world that managed to almost reach perfection regarding the standards of fair voting through electronic voting.

To sum up, if we have the required guarantees to secure a fair election in place, we can catch up with India as a democratic country that is respected by its people and by the whole world.

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