Dialogue Senior Fellow Casas-Zamora to Lead OAS Electoral Observation Mission in Colombia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 9, 2018, 10:00 a.m.
Contact: Ben Raderstorf
202-463-2564
press@thedialogue.org 

Washington, DC – On March 5th, Luis Almagro, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), announced the designation of Inter-American Dialogue Non-Resident Senior Fellow and former Vice President of Costa Rica Kevin Casas-Zamora to lead the organization’s observation mission ahead of the March 11th legislative elections in Colombia.

“The Mission will be made up of 20 experts and observers from 11 countries, who will carry out a substantive analysis of electoral organization and technology, campaign financing, electoral justice, the political participation of women, and the electoral participation of indigenous peoples and afro-descendants,” specified the OAS announcement of Casas Zamora’s designation.

According to Dialogue President Michael Shifter, “Kevin’s qualifications and expertise make him an excellent choice to represent the rest of the Western Hemisphere in observing the elections in Colombia on Sunday.”

Casas-Zamora is currently a Non-Resident Senior Fellow in the Peter D. Bell Rule of Law Program and is based in San José, Costa Rica. He was previously the director of the rule of law program and before that was Secretary for Political Affairs at the Organization of American States. From 2006 to 2007, Casas-Zamora served as Second Vice President and Minister of National Planning under the administration of Óscar Arias. He is an expert on political finance, corruption, citizen security, and inter-American affairs. 

More information about Casas-Zamora and a full list of his publications can be found here.