Governor Pawlenty and President Constantinescu to Lead IRI’s Election Observation Mission to Tunisia

Washington, DC – IRI today announced its election observation delegation will be led by The Honorable Tim Pawlenty, former Governor of Minnesota with His Excellency Emil Constantinescu, former President of Romania as co-leader.

IRI will field an international delegation to observe Tunisia’s October 23 constituent assembly elections, which will be responsible for drafting the country’s new constitution.  These elections will mark an important step in Tunisia’s transition since popular protests brought down the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. 

Governor Pawlenty served two terms as governor of Minnesota from 2003-2011.  During that period, he made five trips to Iraq, three trips to Afghanistan, and led trade missions around the world to, among other countries, China, India, Israel, Chile, Canada, Japan, Brazil, Poland and the Czech Republic.

President Constantinescu served as president of Romania from 1996-2000.  After the fall of Nicolae Ceaușescu in 1989, Constantinescu became a founding member of the Civic Alliance, the most important civil society organization which joined the democratic opposition parties and created the Democratic Convention of Romania.

The delegation will include representatives from Egypt, France, Jordan, Poland, Romania, the United States and the West Bank/Gaza.  IRI will also field a group of long-term observers in Tunisia to monitor the campaigns and preparations for the constituent assembly elections. 

Since 1983, IRI has monitored more than 135 elections in more than 43 countries.