Country: Spain

José Antonio de Gabriel has been participating in election observation missions of the EU, OSCE and United Nations in around twenty counties since 1996. He holds a degree in law and political science and has worked as a professor of political science in several universities in Spain, the UK and the US. He has collaborated in election observation training programmes for Members of Parliament and observers of the Escuela Diplomática, Madrid. He has also been working as consultant for UNESCO and for UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) on the issues of multilateral treaties and electoral legislation reform-projects. José Antonio is the author of several publications on the Theory of Democracy.

Country: Portugal

Cristina has been working in the field of elections since 1996 and participated in several EU, OSCE and CPLP EOMs as an observer and as an election/legal expert. Her most recent observer missions were to Guatemala, Bangladesh and Fiji. With a university degree in law she holds a post-graduate degree in International Relations from the Higher Institute for Social and Political Science in Lisbon. In addition she studied European Affairs at the Catholic University of Lisbon. Cristina is a member of the Portuguese Bar association.

Country: Austria

After the end of the armed conflict, Andreas has worked in El Salvador in the field of peace-building. Additionally he has taken part in 18 Election Observation Missions with the EU and in some more with other organisations such as the OSCE, United Nations and various NGOs. Andreas has worked on either organizing or observing elections in  twenty-five countries in America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the Balkans.

Country: Spain

As a journalist, Javier Gutiérrez has more than 12 years of experience in different spanish media (newspapers, radio and TV). He started to work for the European Union in 2002, acting for the first time as Media Expert and Press Officer in the EU-EOM to Sierra Leone. Since then he has worked in same possition for EU observation missions in Malawi (2004), Ethiopia (2005), Liberia (2005), Fiji Islands (2006), Nicaragua (2006), Guatemala (2007), Angola (2008) and Guinea-Bissau (2008). He has participated as well in several UN missions, as Public Information Officer and Spokesman Assistant (MINUGUA 1998-2000), Civic and Voter Education Officer (UNTAET 2001, UNAMSIL 2001, UNMIN 2007) and Electoral Assistant (in UAE for the Iraqi elections, 2005).

Country: Italy

Carlo Pappalardo started his election observation experience with OSCE/ODIHR in the former Yugoslavia. Between 1999 and 2000 he served as an OSCE Election Officer in Kosovo. As Short-term Observer and Long-term Observer he has participated in a number of EU election observation missions in Asia, Africa and Central-South America. Carlo also served as Observer Coordinator with the EU EOMS in Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, East Timor and Rwanda. He also worked as a technical assistant on election related matters in Ivory Coast.
Before participating in election observation missions, he worked for several years with various Italian NGOs and humanitarian associations on the Balkans and in South and Central America.

Miguel Has worked for the United Nations Department of Public Information for 8 years at Headquarters in New York. He has more than 16 years of experience in the field of Logistics including four years in UN Missions in countries as Namibia (UNTAG), Angola (UNAVEN II) Western Sahara (MINURSO) and South Africa. More recently he has participated in European Union Election Observation and Exploratory Missions in countries such as Zimbabwe, Timor Leste 2002, Pakistan, Kenya, Nigeria, Guatemala, Indonesia, Iraq, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Nicaragua, Timor-Leste 2007 and Bhutan.

Born in Madrid (Spain), Juan Pedro García graduated from the Guardia Civil Military Academy in 1987 and after completing advancement courses was assigned to the different posts. He was a member of the GRS Special Intervention Unit and intelligence services attaining also the position of Deputy Station Commander at Guardia Civil Police Station. He is also a helicopter pilot for BO-105 (five types) and BK-117, among others.

From 1999 to 2004, he started to work for the United Nations, first with UNMIBH and thereafter as a Security Officer with UNMIK in Kosovo. Since 2005, he has participated in various election missions as "Security Expert" including the Iraq Out-of-Country in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Most recently, either of as a core team member or technical expert in "Exploratory Missions for UE" he has participated within the European Union Electoral Observation Mission and OSCE in Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, West Bank & Gaza, Bosnia & Herzegovina, East Timor, Angola and Belarus. He also collaborates with the Spanish MFA in the two-times-yearly election observation training workshops for Spanish observers.

Naledi Lester has worked as an election observer since 2003, participating in EU missions in Central and South America, Africa and the Middle East. Most recently she was a technical assistant in Rwanda and press officer to the EUEOM in Bangladesh. Naledi also has experience as an editor and a journalist. Prior to election observation, she worked on refugee issues, as a legal representative for asylum-seekers and then as a researcher.