The United Nations (UN) has appointed Mrs Charlotte Osei as an International Elections Commissioner to Afghanistan, as the South Asian country prepares to hold presidential elections in September 2019.
Mrs Osei’s appointment was reportedly confirmed by a Presidential Decree issued by the President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani.
The former Ghana Electoral Commission (EC) Chair is expected to join a team of other UN-appointed election experts from around the world to provide technical support, capacity building and electoral best practice advice to the Election Complaints Commission and the Independent Electoral Commission in Afghanistan.
Mrs. Osei is a lawyer by profession with 25 years experience. She also holds a Masters in Law (1996) and a Masters in Business Leadership (2008). Her public sector professional activities have been focused largely on election administration and reforms, civic and voter education, gender and human rights advocacy.
Mrs Osei’s appointment follows her recent appointment as a member of the ECOWAS Elections Observer team that monitored the 2019 Nigerian Presidential Elections.
As Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, Mrs Osei managed the operations and provided strategic oversight of the Electoral Commission for three years, including four parliamentary by-elections, two national elections, local government elections (2015) and presidential and parliamentary elections (2016). Mrs Osei led a branch and root reform of the Commission resulting in the launch and partial implementation of a five-year strategic plan for the Electoral Commission. Additionally, she successfully implemented major electoral reforms.
