Now, Russia to ink electoral accord with India

Medvedev touches down early Tuesday morning with a large business delegation and senior ministers for an annual summit with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He will also go to Agra and Mumbai Wednesday.

“Russia's federal electoral agency will sign an agreement with India's Election Commission for sharing electoral experiences,” Russia's Ambassador Alexander M. Kadakin told IANS here ahead of Medvedev's visit.

The agreement is expected to be signed between Vladimir Churov, chairman of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, and S.Y. Quraishi, India's Chief Election Commissioner, in the presence of Manmohan Singh and Medvedev Tuesday.

The accord on sharing best practices and experiences in holding elections indicates the shifting relationship between India and Russia, who are trying to reinvent their time-tested relations by focusing on relatively new areas of cooperation in their ties like trade and increased contacts between civil societies of the two sides.

The electoral accord will be among 15-16 agreements to be inked between the two sides, including one for jointly producing the fifth generation fighter aircraft and another for expanding civil nuclear cooperation which will be the highlights of Medvedev's visit. 

The electoral accord comes at a time when Russia, known for its controlled top-heavy political system, is experimenting with electoral democracy and many elections have been held in the country in the past few years amid charges of rigging and fraud.

Russia feels it can learn something from how the world's largest democracy has held elections over the years. Around 700 million Indians make up the electorate for the country's general elections.