Peter Erben

Peter Erben is a Senior Electoral Advisor, who specialises in the management of electoral projects in emerging democracies and is continuously engaged in key positions in major electoral processes. In 2005 Mr. Erben was the Chief Electoral Officer of Afghanistan and was in this role also a member of the election commission. On behalf of the United Nations, engaged through IFES, Mr. Erben was in charge of conducting the 2005 parliamentary and provincial council elections - a project engaging more than 180.000 staff at its peak with a budget of $165 million. Previously, also through IFES, Mr. Erben held the responsibility of Director of two Out-of-Country-Voting programs; the October 2004 Afghan Presidential election for Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran and the January 2005 Iraqi National Assembly Elections for diaspora Iraqis in 14 countries worldwide such as Australia, the US, Sweden, Syria, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. The two programs together engaged over 500 international experts and more than 50,000 national staff, working out of offices worldwide, at a combined budget of around $100 million. From 2002 and onwards Mr. Erben remains engaged as the senior advisor for the elections in the Palestinian Territories, managing several large-scale technical assistance projects. He took a lead role in the establishment of the Palestinian Central Election Commission and has acted as the lead advisor to the international community on electoral matters throughout the period. In 2002 Mr. Erben also coordinated the EU observation mission to the Presidential Elections in East Timor and later that year acted as the Senior Election Advisor to the Afghan Emergency Loya Jirga (Grand Council) Commission in Kabul. In this capacity he organised the final stage of the first presidential election following the war in Afghanistan. In 2000 and 2001 Mr. Erben managed the two first post-conflict elections in Kosovo engaged by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE); the first as Associate Director of Elections, the second as the Director of Elections (Chief Electoral Officer). As the Chief Electoral Officer Mr. Erben was also a member of the election commission. From 1996 until 2000 Mr. Erben was part of the management of the first four post-conflict elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina conducted by the OSCE. During this period he held the position of Director of Election Supervision and later Chief of Staff for the entire OSCE mission. Earlier Mr. Erben had spent four years in the Balkans, in leading management roles within the European Union's effort to observe, analyse and report on the unfolding conflicts. Mr. Erben has furthermore led a number of high level electoral assessment and planning missions to countries such as Iraq, Lebanon, Nepal and the Philippines. Mr. Erben is a Danish citizen. For more information please refer to www.petererben.com

Thematic Areas of Expertise