Executive Council
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Mr. Rohana N. Hettiarachchie (Sri Lanka), Chairperson Mr. Hettiarachchie has more than 20 years of election monitoring & observation experience locally & internationally. Specialized in Asia-Pacific regional election monitoring, and also Common Wealth liaison with election management bodies and other relevant stakeholders. He is currently the Secretary General of the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) and the Executive Director of People's Action for Free & Fair Elections (PAFFREL) which was formed in 1987 primarily to observe election in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, he is the Governor of the Marga Institute (Research Organization), Governing Council Member of National Peace Council, and a visiting lecturer at the University of Sri Jayawardenepura. He is a founder of the March 12 Movement which leads towards clean politics in Sri Lanka. Mr. Hettiarachchie graduated from the University of Sri Jayawardenapura and has a Masters in Sociology from the University of Kelaniya. |
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Mr. Kaka Suminta (Indonesia), Vice Chairperson Kaka Suminta is the Secretary General of Independent Committee for Election Monitoring (KIPP) Indonesia. He started his activism in 1996 as a citizen observer for KIPP and eventually became a coordinator for West Java Province of Indonesia in 1998. Before joining KIPP Indonesia, Kaka was part of the local peasant movement in some regions in West Java Province, ans was active in his home land, Subang. In Subang, he first worked with the peasant movement advocating for "Land for People', and found SOPAN (North Subang Peasant Movement) in 1992. |
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Ms. Corazon H. Ignacio (Philippines), Secretary General Ms. Corazon H. Ignacio is a Member of the National Council of the National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) in the Philippines, the first election monitoring organization in the world. She was Human Resource Director of a large corporation before she engaged in election and democracy work. She is a graduate of the University of the Philippines and of the Asian Institute of Management. |
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Mr. Sakool Zuesongdham (Thailand), Treasurer Mr. Zuesongdham is the Treasurer of ANFREL and a board member of the Poll Watch Foundation (P-NET) in Thailand. Sakool has worked previously with the Election Commission of Thailand’s Bangkok division for four years. He is the Chair of the Arom Pongpangan Foundation, an organisation working for the rights of workers and trade unions. |
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Mrs. Elberel Davaa (Mongolia), Executive Council member Mrs. Davaa is the Executive Director of Women for Social Progress/Voter Education Center, an organization working towards democratic development in Mongolia since 1993. She started as a program officer working her way up as the organization’s executive director. A mother of seven, she is well experienced in the areas of women’s participation and leadership, citizen’s engagement in decision making, voter education, and free and fair election. Having worked in the civil society sector for over eight years, she values the principles of democracy and participation which became her passion in life to advocate democracy by sharing and learning as she plans to work for the cause intensively throughout her life. |
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Asiath Rilweena (Maldives), Executive Council member Asiath Rilweena is the Executive Director of Transparency Maldives (TM), the leading domestic election observation group in the Maldives. TM is among the largest civil society organizations in Maldives working on promoting democracy, good governance and anti corruption. She is also the Chief of Party for the USAID Activity on Promoting Resilience in the Maldives. Her areas of expertise includes financial management, organisational restructuring and project management. She’s a strong advocate of systemic reform to eliminate corruption and inequality and strengthening capacity of civil societies in the Maldives. Rilweena holds a BSc in Accounting and Finance (The University of Birmingham, UK), an MCom in Finance (The University of Western Australia, Australia) and an MSC in International Business and Emerging Markets (The University of Edinburgh, UK). |
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Mr. Krishna Man Pradhan (Nepal), Executive Council member Mr. Krishna Man Pradhan is expert on rule of law, electoral reforms and governance. He is the general secretary of General Election Observation Committee (GEOC) and Executive Director of Nepal Law Society (NLS) based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He is an expert on local self governance, human rights and legal policy advocacy. In these capacities, he has led the election observation missions in close cooperation with the Election Commission of Nepal in 4 parliamentary, 2 constituent assembly, 2 provincial and 4 local level elections since 1990. He was involved in election observations as international observer in Bangladesh 2010, Sri Lanka 2019, and Thailand 2023. The GEOC, under his leadership as team leader, is presently working with the Election Commission of Nepal and IFES to carry out extensive reforms in electoral governance through the introduction of integrated election laws. He is also a council member of National Judicial Academy of Nepal. He has steered various programs to support the Election Commission by providing technical help in law making, voters' education and observation of elections. His areas of interests include electoral system, rule of law, democracy, legal/constitutional reforms and women empowerment. He is also the President of Rural Development Foundation/Nepal, which is involved in programs to support the local self government, natural resource management and so on. A Master's in Political Science from the Tribhuwan University in Kathmandu, he has been involved in the civil society movement since past two and a half decades. |