Prof. Al-Tikriti (2nd from right) at a Ukrainian polling station.

Associate Professor of Middle Eastern History Dr. Nabil Al-Tikriti served as an election monitor for the Ukraine parliamentary elections on 16-24 July. Joining 90 Americans in the U.S. delegation of some 750+ observers total, Al-Tikriti worked as an OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) STO (Short Term Observer) in 11-12 rural villages in the agricultural region around Berdyansk, in Eastern Ukraine. His observation partner was a French government official, based in Paris. For more information on these Ukrainian elections, and OSCE’s support of these elections, please see:
https://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/kazakhstan/418187.

In the course of his visit, Al-Tikriti spent four days in Berdyansk, an industrial port on the Sea of Azov, and five days in the capital Kiev, where observers carried out preliminary briefings. While there, he found time to visit the Chernobyl Museum, the National History Museum, and several World War II monuments in the rural villages around Berdyansk.

Originally scheduled to be held at the end of October 2019, the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary elections were brought forward after newly inaugurated President Volodymyr Zelensky dissolved parliament early on 21 May 2019 (a day after his inauguration). In the event, the “Servant of the People” party won the most seats, enabling the formation of a new government. For more information on the politics behind this elections, see this article.

This is the 15th OSCE-monitored election Al-Tikriti has observed since 1997, and the 3rd within the past year.