Dr. JP attending democracy workshop In Kuala Lumpur

Lok Satta Party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan is attending a regional workshop on ‘Democracy in the Commonwealth’ in Kuala Lumpur on July 15 and 16.

Electoral Reform International Services (ERIS) and the Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit are organizing the workshop as part of a study on 'the state of democracy in the Commonwealth'.

The study is meant to identify the most important obstacles to the improvement of democratic arrangements and evaluate the effectiveness of collective Commonwealth efforts to promote and deepen democracy and make recommendations in both areas.

The study will be undertaken by three consultants, drawn from Europe, Africa and Asia respectively: Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Ms. Asma Jahangir, the Chairman of the Ghana Election Commission Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan and democracy expert and lead writer Mr. Tim Sheehy. The experts' report will be published prior to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November 2009.

The regional workshop for the Asia and Pacific regions will be attended by two of the three experts and, eight leaders from Malaysia and 14 from the rest of Asia and the Pacific.