The intrepid Election Observer

Democracy does not solve all the problems in the world, but democracy is always better than dictatorship. To promote credible elections, the EU, OSCE, Carter Centre, AU, OAS and many other organizations field international election observers. These observers are a special kind of people. They go where nobody else goes. To the local people in far-off provinces they are a shining light. To (semi)dictators it means that there are limits as to what they can get away with. In this book, journalist Jos Tesselaar describes the twenty observation missions in which he participated in Africa, Latin America and Asia over a period of 25 years. The book is not only about elections, but also about interpersonal and intercultural relations as well as physical hardships, like extreme heat, extreme cold and life threatening situations. After all: each mission is an adventure.