The National Electoral Council (CNE) assumed the pro-tempore presidency of the Electoral Council of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), which will be exercised until 2017.
It is the first time the Venezuelan Electoral Power chairs the instance. The high mission, which was exercised by the Electoral Court of Uruguay, was delivered to the CNE once Venezuela received the pro-tempore presidency of Unasur.
The Electoral Council of UNASUR is composed of the electoral bodies of 12 member countries and works as a forum for consultation, cooperation, coordination, research, exchange of experiences and support in electoral matters, promotion of citizen participation and democracy.
Created in 2012, this Council has played a leading role in electoral processes in the region, as it has accompanied 16 elections in eight countries. Only in Venezuela, it has accompanied five electoral processes.
“At the end of last year, the Electoral Council of UNASUR had already collected and organized all the experiences of electoral bodies on issues such as law and legislation; non-dependent technologies; good practices and successful initiatives. All this in order to develop a Technical Assistance Plan for its members. In this strategic task, the CNE provided a set of successful practices in the areas of voter registration applications, automation, transmission, logistics and audits. In the same period was started the formation of a Network of Electoral Studies and Training of the Electoral Council of UNASUR in which the Institute of Higher Studies of the Electoral Power (IAEPE) has actively participated, “says a press release of the CNE.
The pro-tempore presidency now begin efforts to design the 2016-2018 action plan, on which will propose to include topics such as the South American citizenship, South-South cooperation, and the inclusion of gender issues.
“Regarding the first issue, the beginning of the discussion will be proposed in order to assess possible contributions to the consolidation of the South American identity, taking into account the competences of electoral bodies on civil registration. For the south-south cooperation, the CNE will use the experience gained in the exchange of knowledge and experience with electoral bodies in Africa and initiated institutional paths, such the agreement signed on the occasion of the Africa-South America Summit (ASA) held on Margarita Island in 2009 “.
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