Armin Rabitsch, Deputy Chief Observer (Austria)

Armin Rabitsch has worked in the field of elections, democratization and good governance for more than ten years. As a political scientist he researched for his Masters degree at the Universities of Cape Town and Western Cape. During a postgraduate scholarship at the European University Institute his work focused on European parliamentary elections and the European Union’s foreign policy. In the course of a three year assignment with UNDP Zimbabwe as Governance Analyst he managed a needs assessment of parliament, a programme to support parliamentary reforms and a constitutional reform programme among other initiatives. As acting Chairperson of the UN Thematic Group on Governance and Human Rights he was also designated as the UN Focal Point for the 2002 Zimbabwean presidential elections. He has been EU EOM elections expert in Liberia, Fiji, Nigeria and Yemen and observed elections in Mozambique, Palestine, Lebanon and Uganda.

Marian Gabriel, Political and Elections Expert (Slovakia)

Marian has a background in political science and history. Since 1998 he has held a number positions in the field of elections and was previously the executive director of the Slovak association of election observers. Marian has also observed numerous elections for the OSCE/ODIHR including those held in Belarus, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Albania. He has also worked as an Election Desk Officer for the Human Rights and Democratisation unit of the European Commission in its External Relations department covering Sri Lanka, Fiji, Yemen and Zambia. Prior to his position at the European Commission he was a political advisor to the Prime Minister of Slovakia.

Fredrik Blanck, Legal and Human Rights Expert (Sweden)

Fredrik Blanck has a degree in law and has been teaching criminal law for 28 years. His first election observation mission was in 1989 and since 1996 he has spent, on average, six months a year working on election missions in many different positions, mainly in Africa and the Balkans. He has acted as a short and long term observer, international trainer, deputy senior election officer, field operations director as well as election and legal expert, working for the UN, OSCE/ODIHR, the European Union and the Council of Europe.

David Ward, Media Analyst and Press Officer (UK)

David has worked on a wide range of media law and policy issues for a number of European governments and broadcasters as well as international organisations including the European Commission, Council of Europe, ERIS, OSCE and UNDP. He has managed technical assistance programmes for the media sector and has acted as a media analyst on EU election observation missions in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. He has a PhD.

Scipion du Chatenet, Operations Expert (France)

For the last 16 years Scipion has worked for international organisations mainly as operations expert in the field of peace keeping and democratization. Scipion spent five years working for the UN-DPKO/Field Administration and Logistics Division. He also worked for the World Food Programme and the International Labour Organisation. He has extensive election experience gained in observation, assessment missions, and technical assistance with the EU, UN, IFES, ERIS and OSCE/ODHIR. He has been senior operations or operations expert 16 times for election observation missions. He has participated in ten election planning / assessment missions and he was involved in election technical assistance projects in Africa and South America. In 1991, he was a consultant at the UN Secretariat in New York at the Investment Management Services. He has a diploma in finance from New York Institute of Finance.

Florence Ganoux, Observer Coordinator (France)

Florence has postgraduate degrees in law, history and human rights and has wide experience working in the field of elections both as an observer and in technical assistance. She has participated in many observation missions in the Balkans for the OSCE and since 2001 in Africa and Asia with the European Union. Florence also has experience working in the field of human rights as a researcher and analyst for international and national NGOs and agencies. She was observer coordinator for the EU EOM in Liberia in 2005, Uganda and Zambia in 2006 and most recently Timor Leste in 2007.

Martim Freire, Security Expert (Portugal)

Martim Freire has extensive experience in elections and has worked as a short and long term observer and supervisor in OSCE and EU election observation missions. As a core team member he has worked as an LTO Coordinator in Timor Leste (2001) and security expert in Kenya (2002), Bolivia and Nicaragua (2006). He was also the local service provider’s chief of project for the EU EOM in Mozambique (2003) and operations expert in the EU EOMs to Afghanistan (2004 and 2005), Ethiopia and Venezuela (2005).