How do you become an international election observer?

April 21, 2011 2:11 AM

How do you become an international election observer?

I never thought there'd be an election worth observing in the Arab world--but now it looks as if there might be. How would I go about volunteering to be an election observer, for the UN, the EU, or an NGO? Insofar as it matters, my professional background fits (academic, specialist in the modern history of the region, knowledge of Arabic and French).

posted by lapsangsouchong to Law & Government (4 answers total)

Best answer: The first two organizations I thought of were the Carter Center and the OSCE. I'm not sure whether you're from Europe or the US, but I couldn't find much on the Carter Center. I imagine you could contact them directly and ask about the process though.

From the OSCE, I get the sense that the process varies considerably for each country. Here's the list of national delegations; you'd need to contact your desired country's delegation to work with the OSCE. I hope the one you're looking for is on there!

As an aside, I've heard a bit about the processes from the POV of well-connected people in the country holding the elections and, at least in that country, many observers were in the country months in advance. It was also incredibly depressing to hear boasting about fake ballots and reports of violent intimidation despite the Carter Center's declaration that it was a "fair" election. But I don't say that to dissuade you because ultimately, the election was "fair" in that everybody knew the vote would split on ethnic lines and the vote totals ultimately reflected that; I guess both sides were cheating the same amount. From what I hear, actual voter fraud is now way down; intimidation has risen, but not to the massmurderous levels of the 70s. I don't even think the next election is being observed.
posted by lesli212 at 3:17 AM on April 21, 2011

Looks like US citizens can register here.
posted by penguinliz at 3:54 AM on April 21, 2011

Best answer: I know someone who did this, and they started - in Australia - by working for the Australian Electoral Commission on election days. Because our electoral commission is viewed as world-leading, they were able to parlay this into experience "on the ground" when Australia was involved with the first East Timorese election. That experience subsequently evolved into work with the UN monitoring elections in Cyprus and Afghanistan. Pretty amazing stuff imho.

So whilst it's not for everyone, getting experience in monitoring elections domestically + your already excellent UN languages would be a great foot in the door. Of course, Australia is lucky in that our electoral commission happens to be one of the very best in the world, both in terms of excellence and cutting edge; there's no real equivalent to this in the US, for example - though there are still obviously electoral bodies, etc.
posted by smoke at 4:06 AM on April 21, 2011

Response by poster: Lesli212, smoke, both really useful answers. Penguinliz, if I were a US citizen yours would have been too. Thanks to all.

If any other UK citizens happen to be interested in this, the British national delegation to the OSCE (who I contacted, as lesli212 suggested) sent me to this page, which has more information and contact details for the NGOs from whom the UK 'sources' volunteers for OSCE election observing missions.
posted by lapsangsouchong at 3:37 AM on April 22, 2011