Mr. Vadim Zhdanovich has served as an Election Adviser and a Senior Election Adviser at the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights based in Warsaw, Poland, since November 1997. In this capacity, he co-coordinated a numerous Election Observation Missions to the OSCE participating States, participated in assessment missions to the developed democracies (Spain, USA and UK). He was involved in developing and implementing election assistance programs in number of the OSCE States as well as he developed a number of the ODIHR election-related generic projects, including “Existing Commitments for Democratic Elections in OSCE Participating States”, “Guidelines for Reviewing a Legal Framework for Elections”, “Guidelines to Assist National Minority Participation in the Electoral Process”. He participated actively in many ACEEEO annual meetings and activities.

Prior to his experience at the ODIHR, Mr. Zhdanovich was Head of Section at the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation in Moscow from 1994-1997. During his time at the CEC, he was involved in election observation programs in a number of the countries in Europe, Asia and in the USA. From 1993-94, he served as a Senior Adviser at the Secretariat of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation dealing with international parliamentary organizations. From 1989-1991, he worked as a Senior Adviser at the Secretariat of the USSR Supreme Soviet dealing with bilateral relations with the US Congress and the Canadian Parliament.

Mr. Zhdanovich graduated from the Moscow Foreign Languages Institute and the Russian Academy of Civil Service (law faculty). He published a number of articles on election related issues. Mr. Zhdanovich is a citizen of the Russian Federation.