At the time of the interview, Alex Paila was the voter education and public relations officer at the National Electoral Commission in Sierra Leone. Prior to that, he worked as a journalist for various newspapers, including the Ceylon Times and the Spectator. He was also employed, first as a reporter and then as deputy news editor, at the Sierra Leone Broadcast Service. Paila holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication. 

Limakatso Mokhothu was nominated by one of Lesotho’s main political parties to serve as an electoral commissioner in 2003.  She was one of three commissioners who oversaw Lesotho’s controversial 2007 election.  The following year she was appointed chairwoman of the commission.  Before joining the Independent Electoral Commission, Mokhothu worked on governance issues at the Irish consulate in Lesotho.

 At the time of this interview, Senesee Freeman was a Program Officer for the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) in Liberia. Freeman studied at the University of Liberia and proceeded to work in local Liberia-based development agencies, including the New African Research and Development Agency (NARDA), where he worked to facilitate the capacity building of local non-governmental organizations. He later worked with Synergies International; where he aimed to assist marginalized populations, including ex-combatants, reintegrate themselves into Liberian society.  

At the time of this interview, Isabel Otero was employed at the United Nations Development Programme Electoral Assistance Team in Sierra Leone. At the UNDP, she served as procedures and training adviser for the National Electoral Commission in Sierra Leone, a position that she held since 2006. Prior to working in Sierra Leone, she served in Liberia as a training and capacity building adviser. She also previously served as a training officer in Afghanistan, and during both the national constituency assembly election and the presidential election in Timor-Leste. Prior to working on electoral issues at the U.N., Otero worked on gender-equity issues in Colombia with various non-governmental organizations. She holds a master’s degree in philosophy. 

At the time of this interview, Douglas Bain was the chief electoral officer with the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland.  A lawyer by training, he held a number of positions in the Northern Ireland Office, a department of the U.K. government responsible for Northern Ireland affairs.  Prior to joining the Electoral Office, Bain served as director of services in the Northern Ireland Prison Service.

At the time of the interview Petrit Gjokuta was the director of the Information Technology Directory in Albania. From 2002 to 2005 he served as the director of the National Registry of Voters for the Central Election Commission. During his time with the Central Election Commission he was responsible for the reform of the voter registry.

At the time of this interview, Victoria Stewart-Jolley was a legal adviser for the United Nations Development Programme's Electoral Assistance Team in Sierra Leone, a position that she had held since March 2007. She worked during the 2007 presidential and parliamentary elections as well as the 2008 local elections to create legal frameworks for electoral management. Prior to working in Sierra Leone, she was a lawyer for the Electoral Complaints Commission in Afghanistan. Stewart-Jolley also worked in international criminal law in Timor-Leste, and in World Trade Organization law in Indonesia. She holds a law degree and has a background in international public law and constitutional law.

At the time of this interview Shukri Ismail was the founder and director of Candle Light, a health, education, and environment non-profit based in Somaliland. She was the only female national election commissioner with Somaliland’s first National Election Commission.

At the time of this interview, Eric Kamwi was the Commission Secretary for the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ). He joined the ECZ in 2001 as Assistant Legal Counsel and worked his way up to the position of Commission Secretary in 2010 and head of the legal department as well. Kamwi’s responsibilities as Commission Secretary included convening meetings, recording information from those meetings, and providing general legal advice concerning elections. Before working for the ECZ, Kamwi practiced law with a private firm.     

At the time of this interview, Mohammed Mokhlesar Rahman Sarker was the director of the Electoral Training Institute, a sister organization to the Bangladesh Election Commission that is responsible for training the entire electoral staff in the country. He had held the position for two and a half years. Some time after the interview, he became deputy commissioner of the Lalmonirhat district of Bangladesh.