Luis Martínez-Betanzos, Deputy Chief Observer (Spain)

Luis has 11 years of experience on democratisation, institution-building and legislative reform in transitional societies, with a specific focus on electoral systems. He has experience in different international organisations (UN, OSCE, EU, IOM) in the Middle East, South-East Asia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Balkans, eastern Europe, Africa and South America. He has held different positions during the implementation of all types of election projects, including election administration, assessments, technical advice and observation missions.

Fredrik Blanck, Legal Expert (Sweden)

Fredrik Blanck has a degree in law and has been teaching criminal law for 28 years. His first electoral observation mission was in 1989 and since 1996 he has spent, on average, six months a year on election missions in many different positions, mainly in Africa and the Balkans. He has acted as a Short-Term Observer, Long-Term Observer, International Trainer, Deputy Senior Election Officer, Field Operations Director, Election Expert and Legal Expert, working for the UN, OSCE/ODIHR, the European Union and the Council of Europe.

Dr. Ron Hermann, Election Expert (Germany)

Dr. Ron Herrmann is an international consultant for and researcher on human rights, democratisation and election processes. In this capacity, he is also a lecturer on political affairs and a trainer on domestic and international election observations for various organisations. He gained his PhD for his research on East African conflicts. Most recently, he has twice been Election Expert for the EU Election Observation Mission to West Bank and Gaza 2004/05 and 2005/06, as well as for the EU EOM to Lebanon in 2005. As Head of the Permanent Monitoring Mission of the EU in Serbia-Montenegro, he was the EU’s chief observer for all elections in the State-Union from 2002-2004.

David Ward, Media Expert (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 and the OSCE. He has also worked on technical assistance programmes and acted as a media analyst on election observation missions in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. He has a PhD.

Sarah Fradgley, Press Officer (UK)

Sarah Fradgley is a media and communications consultant based in London. She was press officer for the EU Election Observation Missions to Indonesia and Lebanon, and Chief of External Relations in the UK for the Iraq out-of-country voting programme in 2005. Previously, Sarah spent three years in Kosovo, first as an information officer for the UN Mission and then as spokesperson for the European Agency for Reconstruction. Before working in south-eastern Europe, Sarah was a TV/radio news producer at the BBC. She has also observed elections for the OSCE in Serbia, Bosnia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan.

Philip Jol, Operations and Security Expert (UK)

Philip has been working in the field of elections since 1996, starting in Bosnia with the OSCE. For three and a half years he was based in the Balkans, working mainly on election operations and security. He has worked for the EU in Cambodia and Sierra Leone as a Long- Term Observer, and as a Core Team member in Sri Lanka and Liberia. Philip recently acted as a consultant on the EU Exploratory Mission to Yemen in preparation for the elections being held there at the present time. He also has experience working in peacekeeping and has participated in missions to countries such as Sudan. Philip has an MSc in Economics.

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. She has worked on election observation missions for the European Commission/implementing agencies in Uganda (2006), Liberia (2005), Kenya (2002), Indonesia (2004), Rwanda (2003), Nigeria (2003), Pakistan (2003), Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (2003), Cambodia (2001) and Guyana (2001). Florence has acted as a coordinator for EU observers as well as, amongst other roles, a liaison officer with election officials, candidates and civil society representatives.

Ralph-Michael Peters, Deputy Observer Coordinator (Germany)

Ralph-Michael holds an M.A. in Political Science. He has been working in and on Eastern Africa (Kenya and Uganda) since 1994, focusing on the democratisation processes. Over the last five years, one of his major fields of work has been elections, with a focus on election observation, the training of election observers (in Germany and in Ghana for the ECOWAS region) and the organisation of elections (Afghanistan 2005). More recently, he was the Political/Country Expert for the EU EOM to Uganda in 2006.