The Agora Election Observation Mission to the Hungarian parliamentary election of 2 April 2022 is already taking its final shape. It is our pleasure to introduce our three Mission Coordinators who took up and embraced challenging tasks.
MISSION COORDINATOR 1 – ANA PACU (MOLDOVA)
“I am Ana from Moldova but based in Luxembourg. I hold a French-Romanian Master’s degree in “Politics in Europe”, a Joint Master at École des Hautes études en Sciences Sociales Paris (EHESS), and at the University of Bucharest. I am currently enrolled at Sorbona University, where I attend a postmaster course on elections.
I have previously acted as a Short-Term Observer with the Promo-LEX Association in the Republic of Moldova in 2016, 2020, and 2021. In addition, I have been appointed as the Vice president of the polling station for Romania’s presidential election in 2019 and parliamentary election in 2020 at the Romanian Embassy in Luxembourg.
With my academic and professional background, I would like to enhance my knowledge and promote better informed and more politically active citizens. Furthermore, I am interested in safeguarding the integrity of electoral processes via election observation and promoting a conducive enabling environment for political competition.”
MISSION COORDINATOR 2 – VANESSA KUNZE (GERMANY)
I am Vanessa and I´m joining our Mission Coordinator Team from Germany. Here I am currently finishing my Master Studies in Sociology by writing my Master Thesis about the influence of the European Union on the resurgence of Populism in specified European states. Within my studies, I did dive into European and Global studies and gained knowledge and overview about societal and political processes, mechanisms, and correlations of European States.
With starting to study I also joined AEGEE Europe and began to understand what European identity and spirit means. Over the last years these sparks have been driven me to actively work within the organisation in various fields, always under the light of contributing to a stronger, more connective European identity, in particular among young people. Now I am therefore more than excited to focus on the Election Observation Mission to the Parliamentary Elections 2022 in Hungary, a country that is another matter to my heart. Supporting the democracy of this state by ensuring an objective observation of their governmental elections is fundamental in these times of political uncertainty and one of the reasons for me to become a mission coordinator for this Election Observation Mission to Hungary.
MISSION COORDINATOR 3 – MAIKE SCHULTE (GERMANY)
My name is Maike and I am from Germany. Currently, I am completing my studies in Communication Science and History at Bamberg University. Since 2018 I have been deployed as a freelance journalist for newspapers, magazines, and publishing houses across Europe.
When I started my studies, I became a member of AEGEE, an international and interdisciplinary students organisation, operating in 42 European countries. I started to develop a big interest in European politics, in the culture and ethnicities who live there and what moves them in political choices. I authored several articles about it in the local German newspapers. Moreover, as the Editor-in-Chief of AEGEE-Europe, I was responsible for the Key to Europe 2019/2020, the annual magazine of the association. The work and volunteering for AEGEE have pushed me to discover and acknowledge what it actually means to be European and it has shaped my European identity.
My international experience has shown me that democracy unites us and trustworthy elections are essential for consolidating the political system and institutions, based on the concept of democratic legitimacy. I look forward to being a Mission coordinator and leading the upcoming Election Observation Mission to the Hungarian Parliamentary Elections 2022 with an international team. It is our commitment to promote and protect the political rights and freedoms of European youth and to help build public confidence in the reliability of electoral processes – especially at a time when democracies in Europe are being challenged.
Agora Election Observation is proud of the selected team and we look forward to a successful observation mission.