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Michael Meadowcroft
Public and Political Affairs Consultant |
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In recent years Michael Meadowcroft has led, or been a member of, forty-eight missions to thirty-five different countries, assisting in the transition to multi-party democracy, and its subsequent enhancement. These missions have ranged from supervising civic education, to training election officials, and to preparing a new constitution, via parliamentary practice, co-ordinating voter registration, local government development, enhancing civil society, assisting emergent political parties, reporting on local electoral requirements, and election monitoring. In 1994 he co-ordinated the UN Electoral Assistance Team in Malaëi which played a key role in the successful transition to multi-party democracy there. In 1995/96 to January 1996 he was Advisor on the Jerusalem Constituency for the European Union's observer mission for the Palestinian elections. Also in 1996 he was the Co-ordinator of the OSCE's International Observer Mission for the Russian Presidential election, following which he was the OSCE's Co-ordinator of the observation of the refugee vote for the Bosnian election. In 1997 he was Consultant to COMFREL, the prominent Cambodian NGO. and in 1998 he headed the European Commission's Technical Assistance Mission to the Cambodian National Assembly elections. In 1999 he was Post-Election Advisor to the UNDP-EU Technical Assistance mission for the Indonesian elections. He was Observation Co-ordinator for the UNDP-EU TA Mission in Suriname, February-July 2000. In 2001 he was Team Leader for the EUEU Election Mission in Zambia, and later the EU's Chief Observer there. From 2004-2005 he was advisor to the electoral commission in DR Congo. In 2006 he headed the UNDP electoral assistance team in Bénin.
Other missions include Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bénin, Bulgaria, DR Congo, Croatia, The Gambia, Georgia, Guinea-Conakry, Hong Kong, Iraqi Kurdistan, Lithuania, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Tanzania, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
Michael is a former British Member of Parliament and had over forty-five years experience of Liberal party political organisation at all levels. He has been an election agent, national party officer, Local Government Officer at Party Headquarters' staff, full-time regional party secretary, twenty years as a City and County Councillor, and ten years as party president. He joined the Liberal Democrats is September 2007. He served on the Leeds City Council Education Committee for many years. He was also a member of the West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police Authority, and a Director of the Leeds Grand Theatre and Opera House. He was elected an Honorary Alderman of the City of Leeds in September 2002.
He has also been in charge of non-governmental organisations with over one hundred staff and budgets in excess of £1 million. He has been a widely published writer, including a spell as columnist in The Times, plus many booklets on current affairs. He is in demand for lecturing at seminars and conferences. He has appeared on both BBC television's Question Time and BBC Radio 4's Any Questions. He is currently a regular columnist in the Yorkshire Post.
Michael chaired the Electoral Reform Society from 1989 to 1993, during which time he developed its international consultancy arm. He is a member of the Society's governing council. He also maintains an involvement in British public life, including being a trustee of the Community Development Trust 1986-96 and, until recently, a school governor and a management committee member of a large housing association. He was Chairman of The Leeds Club, 2002-03, and is a member of the committee of the Leeds Library.
Michael holds a Master of Philosophy degree from the University of Bradford. He speaks French.
In July 1998 he was inducted as a "Chevalier de la Commanderie du Faugères" - the organisation which safeguards and promotes the Faugères Appellation in the Languedoc. For relaxation Michael plays the clarinet and saxophone in the Granny Lee Jazz Band.
Aged 65, he is married to Elizabeth Bee who is the Information Manager for the "not for profit" organisation "FunderFinder", and who has herself served on a number of overseas missions in her own right.
last updated February 2008
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