MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

First OAS Electoral Observation Mission to the US next November 8

Laura Chinchilla, the first woman president of Costa Rica, held office from 2010 to 2014. In 2015 she headed the OAS mission to Mexican federal elections.

The former president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, will head the first Electoral Observation Mission that the OAS will deploy to the United States and that will observe the upcoming November 8 elections.

 Chinchilla, appointed by the OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro, served as President of the Republic of Costa Rica during the period 2010-2014, becoming the first woman to occupy this position in her country. She previously served as deputy of the Legislative Assembly, Minister of Public Security, Minister of Justice and Vice President of the Republic.

In 2015, the former Costa Rican president led the Observation Mission deployed by the OAS to Mexico to observe the federal election held on June 7 of that year.

In related news it was announced that ex Guatemala president Álvaro Colom will be the OAS Chief of the Electoral Observation Mission to be will deployed for the plebiscite to be held on October 2 in Colombia in the framework of the peace process.

Colom was president of Guatemala between 2008 and 2012. An engineer by training he began his career in public administration in 1991, when he was appointed vice minister of Foreign Trade and has since then served in various positions to support democracy in his country. He has already been Chief of OAS missions to the elections held in Colombia on October 25, 2015 and to general elections of October 12, 2014 in Bolivia.

OAS has observed 14 electoral processes in Colombia since 1994, including presidential, legislative and local elections.