Indian elections matchless, we're impressed: Diplomats

Diplomats from across the globe based in Delhi, have been looking at the poll process with great interest.

Diplomats from across the globe based in the capital, with a ringside view of the world's largest democratic exercise unfolding, say they are impressed.

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They all applaud the Indian -- be they from Western countries where elections are a part of life, from the Middle East where popular democracy is mostly an alien concept, or from Africa or in India's neighbourhood that face various challenges to the democratic system.

"We look at the Indian elections with tremendous interest. The use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) across the country is particularly impressive," said David Kennedy, spokesman for the US embassy.

There is no parallel in the world for the Indian elections because of the sheer numbers -- 675 million voters -- involved, he admitted.

The staggered elections completed the first two of the five phases Tuesday and Thursday while the three remaining phases are scheduled for April 26, May 5 and 10. The results will be announced May 13.

"This is the biggest exercise in democracy in the world. The Election Commission has to be applauded," Kennedy said.

Another Western diplomat, who has seen previous elections in India too, said the polls were more orderly now.

"Considering the size of the constituencies in India, the magnitude of the problem is not something that cause worry about the electoral process," said the diplomat who did not wish to be named.

The diplomat also found the EVMs interesting.

"These machines are very impressive. It makes sense to use them, not only because it saves paper but also because it saves time in counting the votes.

"People admire the process of election whatever they might think of the politicians. After all, how many countries have as many voters? The next probably is Russia with 150 million. India has more than four times that number," he noted.

Said a Sri Lankan diplomat: "We would like to use the EVMs in our elections, but the machines will go crazy because of the requirements of our proportional representation system."

Under the Sri Lankan proportional representation system, a voter has to mark her preference of party followed by preference of candidates from a district list in descending order.

"What I find strange is the crazy swings in opinion polls and exit polls. I wonder how scientific they are," he added.

A Chinese diplomat said while the election process was interesting, what was of more interest to Beijing was the outcome.

"We are not too concerned about the process itself as much as the outcome," the diplomat said.

None of them wanted to speculate on the outcome because that would just not be diplomatic -- even off the record.

The farthest they would go was to cite the various opinion and exit polls conducted by various media organisations.

But sources said the weekly diplomatic bags they send to their capitals have been bulky of late with analyses, predictions, possibilities and foreign policy implications of the electoral outcome.

Most countries of the African continent, where winds of democracy have been blowing, are watching the Indian election process with interest.

"We are celebrating 10 years of democracy and we have to thank India for performing midwifery to our democracy," admitted South African High Commissioner ME Nkoana-Mashabane.

She noted that South Africa had just concluded national elections.

"But in size, ours is a small election compared to the Indian election. After all, this is the largest democracy in the world," she said.