Date
Nov 6, 2020, 12:00 pm1:30 pm
Location
Virtual Videoconference
Audience
  • Private
  • RSVP Required
  • Faculty/Student Only

Speakers

Details

Event Description

The Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination at Princeton University (LISD) will host a special session on "Elections and International Monitoring" with Ambassador Urszula Gacek, Head of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)'s Limited Election Observation Mission for the 2020 US General Elections, and Mr. Alexander Shlyk, Head of the Election Department of the OSCE's ODIHR.

 

The session is part of the Seminar on Global Diplomatic and Security Challenges (GDSC), a yearlong interactive seminar for graduate and undergraduate students. The discussion will explore the standards by which the international community of election observers conduct a close analysis of elections globally.  

 

The session is open to Princeton University faculty and students only. To attend, please RSVP to Ms. Kristen Cuzzo at [email protected]. Only those that have registered will receive link to participate.


About the Speakers

Ambassador Urszula Gacek is a former senior diplomat in the Polish MFA, Poland’s Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe and Consul General in New York. During her term in Strasbourg, she chaired a key ambassadorial body – the Committee of Ministers’ Rapporteur Group on Democracy for a two-year term. As Consul General in New York, she was responsible for the coordination and oversight of Presidential and Parliamentary elections and a national referendum in the New York Consular District. She has also held elected office, as both a member of the Polish Senate and of the European Parliament.  She is an experienced electoral observer having been both a short-term observer with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and more recently, Head of Mission for ODIHR (most recently in Armenia, Kazakhstan and Serbia). Born and educated in the United Kingdom, she holds a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford. She is committed to promoting best electoral practices in accordance with international standards.
 

Alexander Shlyk is the Head of the Election Department of the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). He manages and oversees election-related activities across the OSCE region. Alexander is responsible for management of programmatic as well as financial and operational issues in the department. Alexander leads needs assessment missions, expert and follow-up visits. Alexander joined ODIHR in 2010 as an Election Adviser and since then organized election observation missions to a number of countries, contributed to developing and refining ODIHR’s election observation methodology, developed and refined the curricula for election observer training activities, and led the development of the ODIHR e-learning courses for election observers. Prior to joining the ODIHR in 2010, Alexander worked with the World Bank in the area of economic development and research, including in Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda. He holds an MA in Political Science from the Central European University, Hungary, and an MSc in International Development and Management from Lund University, Sweden. Alexander is a Belarusian citizen from Minsk.