C.V

Carina Perelli received her ABD and Master Degree in the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Notre Dame; she received a postgraduate degree in sociology from Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales-Centro de Informaciones y Estudios sobre el Uruguay.

She is currently a consultant with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, and has previously worked as the Director of the Electoral Assistance Division/Department of Political Affairs of the United Nations. She was the International Commissioner ad interim in Iraq for the Constitutional Referendum of October 2005 and stayed until the conclusion of the process. As the International Commissioner, with powers delegated  as the international non-voting member of the Board by the Iraqi Board of Commissioners, negotiated the voting of detainees with the Multinational Force, as well as with the Iraqi Ministries of Defense, Interior and Justice, physically inspected conditions at Abu Ghraib prison to ensure that standards for polling were met (was the first UN official to be given permission to enter Abu Ghraib), and made recommendations to the Board on appropriate special voting procedures for detainees and voting in hospitals.

By same delegation of authority, she also established the audit of results system that was used when voting patterns risked to be contested and oversaw its implementation. As part of the regular duties of the international commissioner, she sat at the Board to discuss and adopt regulations, oversee the organization and conduct of the referendum and adjudicate disputes and challenges. She also negotiated with the Transitional National Assembly the terms of the electoral system to be used in the December 05 parliamentary elections, and helped the Board of Commissioners decide on the appropriate regulatory framework for its implementation. While staying in Iraq as the International Commissioner, she continued to oversee the work of EAD and lead a sensitive process of political negotiation in Lebanon to reform the electoral system in that country, by setting a team to advice the High Level Commission established by PM Siniora to that effect.

Selected Publications

Books

• 1995. Partidos y clase política en América Latina en los noventa (Political parties and political class in Latin American in the '90s) Co-editor with Sonia Picado and Daniel Zovatto. [San José: IIDH/CAPEL]
• 1991. Gobierno y política en Montevideo (Government and Politics in Montevideo) Co-author with Fernando Filgueira and Silvana Rubino. [Montevideo: Peitho].
• 1990. Los militares y la gestión pública. [Montevideo: Peitho. Serie Mayéutica].
• 1987. Someter o convencer. El discurso militar en el Uruguay. (To subdue or to convince. Military discourse in Uruguay), [Montevideo: EBO-CLADE].

Articles

• 2007. ”The paradoxes of elections and trasnsitions: when is a Nation ready for elections?” in Richard W. Soudriette and Juliana Geran Pilon: Every vote counts. The role of elections in building democracy. Lanham, MD. University Press of America
• 1995. "Paraguay. Pre-Election Technical Assessment" (with MM. Villaveces y D. M. Cepeda) (Washington D. C. IFES).
• 1995. "Changing Military World Views: Old Menaces, New Linkanges" (co-author with Juan Rial) in Richard L. Millet and Michael Gold-Biss (eds.): Beyond Praetorianism: The Latin American Military in Transition.(Miami: North-South Center Press, University of Miami)
• 1994. "Memoria de Sangre: Fear, Hope and Disenchantment in Argentina" in Boyarin, Jonathan (ed.) Remapping Memory: The Politics of TimeSpace (Minneapolis / London: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 39 -66 ).
• 1993. "Backwards into the future. The new caudillos in the framework of the retreat of the State in South America". Peitho. Working Papers # 84.