Overview
- The handover will take place on December 3, 2025, at the Council of Member States meeting in Stockholm, Sweden.
- As chair for 2026, Gyanesh Kumar will preside over all council meetings and help steer the agenda of the 35-member body, which lists the United States and Japan as observers.
- International IDEA, founded in 1995, focuses on strengthening democratic institutions through research, capacity building and cooperation.
- ECI’s training arm IIIDEM and International IDEA plan joint programs, workshops and research targeting voter distrust, electoral violence and disinformation.
- IIIDEM reports training 3,169 officials from about 142 countries and signing 28 MoUs, and the partners intend to document and share ECI’s administrative and technological innovations globally.