25 October 2024
By Bryan McCarthy
bryan@TheCork.ie
Tackling Foreign interference in elections and fighting dis-information are among the key global challenges, that’s according to Ireland’s Electoral Commission CEO Art O’Leary and the chairperson of the Irish commission, Retired High Court Judge Marie Baker. It’s understood that Baker lives in Cork City, because a press photograph showed her voting there, in a personal capacity, earlier this year. The two Irish officials are on a four-day visit to Delhi and Mumbai, in India. On Wednesday, they visited India’s Electoral Commission.
Art O’Leary told The Indian Express “A recent study that looked into elections in 52 countries and in 92% of them there was evidence of interference. We can’t assume we will be exempted and we can’t be complacent here as well. It’s a risk we have to manage,” he said.
When he was asked about the exchange of experiences between the Irish and Indian election officials, he said: “I was very interested in the logistical side of things, the operational side of things, so that is what I learnt. What they can learn from us, I suspect, it’s probably this collaboration. Some of the shared challenges that face election management bodies all over the world are all very similar. It is the question of electoral integrity, can we trust the process, can you trust results, how we deal with mis and dis-information, the accuracy and completeness of the electoral roll – all of these fundamental tenets of democracy are so important.”
Retired Judge Marie Baker, Chairperson, Electoral Commission, Ireland meeting with officials from India’s Electoral Commission including CEC Rajiv Kumar and ECs Gyanesh Kumar & Dr. Sandhu at Nirvachan Sadan. Photo Credit: Election Commission of India Facebook.
