Thijs Berman (Netherlands) Chief Observer

Thijs Berman was born in Coevorden, the Netherlands and grew up in Groningen. He is a Dutch politician, member of the Dutch Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid), which is part of the European Socialist Party in the European Parliament. He headed the Dutch Labour in 2009 during the European elections after winning the party primaries.

Thijs sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and is also a member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Development, Committee on Human Rights, and a substitute member in the Committee for EU Budget Control. He is the Chairman of the EP Delegation for relations with Afghanistan.

Before turning to politics in 2004, Thijs worked as a correspondent in Paris and Moscow for various Dutch media and as a radio and television presenter since 1987. Thijs has gained election experience as an MEP in Ukraine in 2004 and 2006, and he was the Chief Observer of the European Union Election Observation Mission to Afghanistan in 2009. As a journalist, Thijs also covered elections in several countries, including France, USSR/Russia and Georgia. He has a Master’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Amsterdam (1987).

Tony Reis (Portugal) Deputy Chief Observer

Tony Reis has extensive experience in election observation, conflict resolution and programs aiming to promote and support democracy.

Tony has been involved in more than 40 Election Observation Missions for EU (European Union), OAS (Organization of American States) and UN (United Nations) since 1990 in America, Middle East, Africa and Asia, most of the times as the Chief of the Mission.

Tony has participated in numerous high level negotiations in Panama and in Nicaragua as the Deputy Advisor to the Secretary General of OAS. He was also the Head of the Special Mission which has negotiated and concluded the peace agreement to end civil conflict in Suriname and disarmed the illegal armed groups. Tony worked for World Bank in Washington and as journalist in numerous countries for the news agency Reuters.

Tania Marques (Portugal) Legal Analyst

Tania Marques holds a Master of Laws in International Peace Support Operations from the National University of Ireland and has also studied International Relations at the University of Lusiada in Portugal.

She has been awarded certificates in Human Rights Law, Conflict Analysis and Legal Analysis of Electoral Processes.

Tania has been involved in election observation for the past five years and has participated in several EU election observation missions in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Naledi Lester (Denmark) Election Analyst

Naledi has worked as an election observer since 2003, participating in EU missions in Central and South America, Africa and the Middle East.

She has worked as a technical assistant in Rwanda and more recently as reporting officer in Lebanon and El Salvador, and human rights and gender analyst in Afghanistan.

Prior to election observation, she worked on refugee issues, as a legal representative for asylum-seekers and then as a researcher.

Stephane Mondon (France) Political Analyst

Stephane Mondon is an international consultant for democracy support, electoral processes, and rule of law.

He holds a master degree in international business law from the University of Aix-Marseille in France and an Economy degree from Otaru University of Commerce in Japan.

He worked in several Law firms, gave technical assistance during the parliamentarian and presidential elections in DRCongo with UNDP, and was Director of Operations at Lawyers Without Borders.

Recently he participated in the European Union Election Assessment Team in Iraq.

Heinz Jockers (Germany) Human Rights Analyst

Heinz Jockers holds a PhD in African Studies, specialising on Nigeria. After working for many years at Nigerian universities he took up a position at the Ethnological Museum in Hamburg where he was mainly engaged in exhibitions on contemporary African art.

Teaching at the University of Hamburg (Ethnological Department) and briefing diplomats and GTZ aid workers on Africa he then joined the Institute of African Studies.

Heinz has participated in more than 20 EOMs as LTO, STO, LSTO and as a member of the CT as political and country expert in Nigeria 2003 and 2007. He worked as a project manager in Liberia (2004/2005) and as team leader in a joint Nigerian/ European team in Nigeria (2001/2002) on EU governance projects.

Lucia Scotton (Italy) Media Analyst

Lucia Scotton is a senior media analyst with ten years experience in the field of electoral observation and assistance.

She worked in Africa, Eastern Europe, Haiti and Afghanistan with different international organizations such as OSCE, Council of Europe, EU, and UNDP.

Since 1995 Lucia has been an associate researcher of the Osservatorio di Pavia, the Italian institute for media research and monitoring.

She is a graduated in foreign languages and literatures and currently attending a Master’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Media Studies.

Agnes Doka (Hungary) Press Officer

Agnes Doka has participated in more than ten EU election observation missions as an observer in Africa, Asia and in the Middle East. She was a press officer of the EU Election Observation Mission to Afghanistan in 2009.

Agnes is a public relations consultant advising businesses, ministries and universities on communication strategies. She is also a trainer in various aspects of communication, including media relations, intercultural communications, crisis management and NGO capacity building. She worked as an election process trainer during Afghanistan’ first presidential election in 2004 with UN, and she trained observers for EU EOMs last year.

Presently she is working on her Master’s Degree thesis in public policy, specialising in media, information and communications policy research.

Leandro Nagore (Spain) Reporting Officer

Leandro has a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and a postgraduate degree in Public International Law.

He has been working in the field of elections for the last eight years with the OSCE/ODIHR, The Carter Center and the EU, covering numerous elections in Africa, Asia, South and Central America and the former Soviet Union.

In 2007 and 2008, Leandro was recruited by the Spanish Electoral Board for the organisation of general and regional elections.

Over the last year, he has thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity of assisting in the training of EU observers through the NEEDS Project.

Alexander Gray (United Kingdom) Observers Coordinator

Alexander Gray has participated in several election observation missions with the EU, OSCE and OAS, both as an observer and as a Core Team member.

His most recent EU EOMs include Mozambique, Lebanon, Bolivia, Guinea Bissau, Angola and Kenya. Along with a PhD in Peace and Development Studies he is trained to the post-doctoral level with professional capacity in issues of democratisation, human rights, civil society and international migrations.

Alex is specialised in civil society-state relations and has conducted substantive fieldwork and NGO programming across Latin America and Africa since 1999. Alex has authored several publications in the area of democracy and good governance.

Emmanuel Geny (France) Deputy Observers Coordinator

Emmanuel has a Master in Political Sciences and in Modern History.

He worked with NGOs abroad as well as in the Head Office of Reporters without Borders in Paris.

Since 2000, he has been participating in various Election Observation Missions with OSCE (Ukraine, Georgia) and European Union (Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi, Venezuela, Bolivia, etc) mainly as a Long Term Observer.

He was Deputy Observer Coordinator for the 2009 EOM in Ecuador.

Claudio Giulietti (Italy) Deputy Observers Coordinator

Claudio holds a Master in Conflict and Development Studies from the UNESCO Chair of Philosophy for Peace in Castellon de la Plana, Spain.

He has taken part in a number of election missions in the Middle East, the Balkans, South Asia, Africa and Latin America covering different positions including Project Manager, Operations/Logistics Expert, Assistant Election Expert, and long-term observer.

Claudio has served the UNMIT in East Timor in 2006/2007 where he worked in the Technical Assistance Section as Logistics/Operations Adviser.

He also worked with the CARTER CENTER Election Observation Mission as Logistics Expert. His most recent missions include Iraq, Mozambique, Malawi, Bolivia, Guinea Bissau, and Kenya, among others.