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The Center for the Study of Islam & Democracy cordially invites you to a press conference panel on:

  

 

Tunisia's Landmark 

Presidential Elections:

Referendum, Revolution or Restoration? 

 

  

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

 

1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

 

National Press Club

  

529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor

Fourth Estate Restaurant

Washington DC 20045

 

Light refreshments will be served

 


 

 

Welcoming Remark: 
 

 

His Excellency Mohamed Ezzine Chelaifa

Tunisian Ambassador to the United States (invited)


 

Conference Panelists:

 

Radwan Masmoudi

President, Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy

 
Marina Ottaway 
Senior Associate, Middle East Program, Wilson Center

 

 

Jeffrey England

Deputy Regional Director for MENA, National Democratic Institute

 

Hal Ferguson

Deputy Regional Director for MENA, International Republican Institute

 

Robert Worth 

Contributor, New York Times Magazine

 

 

Moderator and Chair:

 William Lawrence 

Center for the Study of Islam & Democracy 

 

 

This unique group of election observers and commentators have all recently returned from Tunisia and will share their eyewitness testimonies and perspectives. Four years after its historic Jasmine revolution, Tunisia continues to surprise the skeptics, becoming the Arab world's most profound democratic experiment as well as a regional rampart against extremism. Just over a week ago, Tunisia completed its first post-revolutionary presidential elections, resulting in a runoff now underway. For some voters, the leading candidate, 88-year-old Beji Caid Sebsi, represents a restoration of Tunisia's past republican and constitutional accomplishments. For other voters, his next generation challenger Moncef Marzouki represents the fruits of the dignity revolution and the aspirations of youth. Still others may engage in a protest vote against the former Islamist-led Troika or the ancien regime. To discuss the election mechanics and dynamics--and their import--CSID has assembled some of the leading Tunisia and election observers, back from the streets and polling stations there where they directly observed the presidential campaign and polls. Panelists will also be asked to offer insights into the presidential runoff now underway and to discuss U.S. engagements in support of Tunisian democracy.


BIOGRAPHIES:

 

Tunisian ambassadorHis Excellency Mohamed Ezzine Chelaifa presented his credentials as Tunisia's ambassador to the United States on March 10, 2014, his fourth ambassadorial posting. Chelaifa was born in the coastal town of Mahdia, Tunisia and attended Aix-Marseille University, earning a bachelor's degree in political science, a masters in international relations, and a Ph.D. in economics. Chelaifa joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1983 and served in Madrid, where he and his wife Laila's two sons were born. Chelaifa's first posting to Washington came in 1996, when he was named deputy chief of mission, serving until 1999. He has served as ambassador to South Africa and Spain and briefly as Tunisia's first ambassador to Australia. Chelaifa speaks English, French, Spanish and Arabic.

 

Radwan Masmoudi is founding President of the Center for Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID), a Washington-based non-profit think tank dedicated to promoting dialogue about democracy in the Muslim world. He is also the editor of the Center's quarterly publication, Muslim Democrat. He has written and published several articles and papers on the topics of democracy, diversity, human rights, and tolerance in Islam. He is active with local Muslim organizations and was elected to the board of directors of the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, Maryland. He is member of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Tunisian Scientific Society (TSS), and the board of the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies (ACSIS) and the International Forum for Islamic Dialogue (IFID). In April 2012, he was elected to the Steering Committee of the World Movement for Democracy. 

 

OttawayMarina Ottaway is Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center and a long-time analyst of political transformations in Africa, the Balkans, and the Middle East. She is working on a project at the Wilson Center on the Arab Spring and Iraq. Ottaway joined the Wilson Center after 14 years at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she played a central role in launching the Middle East Program. Prior to that she carried out research in Africa and the Middle East for many years and taught at Georgetown University, the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, and the American University in Cairo. Her extensive research experience is reflected in her publications, which include nine authored books and six edited ones. Ottaway received her Ph.D. from Columbia University.

 

Jeff England Jeffrey England is Deputy Regional Director for NDI's Middle East and North Africa (MENA) division. From 2009 to 2012, Mr. England served as NDI's Resident Country Director for Morocco and Algeria and was the Institute's representative for the Maghreb North Africa until offices opened in Tunisia and Libya in mid-2011. Prior to assuming that post, Mr. England spent four years managing the Institutes's Maghreb portfolio from Washington, DC. Mr. England also opened the NDI office in Mauritania. He spearheaded cross-regional collaboration initiatives, including the launch of the Aswat platform, one of the first multilingual online hubs for democratic activists across the MENA region. He has led development of transparency initiatives, such as the launch of Morocco's first legislative citizen monitoring initiative, as well as the initial domestic election observation training and networking for Algeria, Tunisia, and Libyan activists prior to the Arab Spring. He has led and served on elections assessments and observation missions in Algeria, Bosnia and Herzogovina, Kuwait, Morocco, Tunisia, and the West Bank.  

 

Ferguson

 Hal Ferguson began his career with the International Republican Institute (IRI) in 2004 in Afghanistan. In 2006 Ferguson transferred to Washington to manage IRI out-of-country training programs throughout the Middle East. In June 2008 Ferguson returned once again to the field as Director of Operations for IRI's Iraq program, where in addition to managing the administration of all Iraq field offices he developed and ran a program to bring Iraqi sheikhs further into democratic politics.  In January 2010 he assumed overall management of the Iraq program, at that time the largest one at IRI. In April 2011 Ferguson became Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa division, where he is now responsible for overseeing diverse programs from Morocco to Pakistan. 

 

Worth

Robert Worth is a frequent contributor to the New York Times Magazine, has been writing about the Arab world since 2003. He is currently a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, where he is working on a book about the 2011 Arab uprisings and their legacy. He reported from Baghdad for the Times from 2003 until 2006, and was the paper's Beirut bureau chief from 2007 until 2011. Born in New York, he was educated at Wesleyan and Princeton universities, and currently lives in Washington D.C.

 

William Lawrence

William Lawrence is Director for Middle East and North Africa programs at the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy. He is also President of the American Tunisian Association, a senior fellow at POMED, and a visiting professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University's Elliott School. He was North Africa director from 2011 to 2013 at International Crisis Group. He previously served in a number of positions at the U.S. State Department, including as senior advisor for global engagement in the Bureau of Oceans and International and Scientific Affairs, where he advised the White House on core initiatives associated with President Obama's Cairo speech. He served in the U.S. embassies in Tripoli and in Washington as officer in charge of Libyan and Tunisian affairs. He is one author of After the Uprisings: Political Transition in Tunisia, Libya, and Yemen, and has published post-Arab spring analysis and op-eds in Foreign Policy, the Guardian, Figaro, Slate Afrique, Jeune Afrique, Al-Hayat and Sharq al-Awsat and with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

 

  

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