Miguel Ángel Lara Otaola is the Senior Adviser, Democracy Assessment in the Democracy Assessment Unit. Miguel Angel leads the Global State of Democracy (GSoD) Indices at International IDEA.

Previously, he directed International IDEA’s office for Mexico, Central America, and the Dominican Republic, focusing on electoral integrity. His latest project consisted in creating a Global Index on Electoral Justice.

Before joining IDEA in 2018, Miguel Angel held several management, research, and field positions in organizations such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) in the United Kingdom, the National Electoral Institute of Mexico (INE) and the Electoral Integrity Project at the Universities of Sydney and Harvard.

He has participated in over 40 technical assistance and observation missions in Asia, Australia, Europe, and Latin America and has published over 50 articles and chapters on democracy, elections, corruption, and governance in English, Spanish and German.

Latest publications:

Concha, H; Lara Otaola, M.A., Orozco, J. “Towards a Global Index on Electoral Justice” Stockholm: International IDEA.

Lara Otaola, M.A., Norris, P. (2019) ‘Las dos Venezuelas’ Voz y Voto - México, June

Lara Otaola, M.A. (2019) ‘A farewell to flags’ London School of Economics blog, June

Lara Otaola, M.A., Díaz Santana, H. (2018) ‘Compra de Votos: Compra de Voluntades?’ Foreign Affairs Latinoamérica, April-June, pp.103-111

Lara Otaola, M.A. (2017) ‘To include or not to include? Party representation in Electoral Institutions and Overall Confidence in Elections’, Party Politics, pp. 1-11

Jeffrey Karp; Alessandro Nai; Miguel Lara Otaola and Pippa Norris (2017) ‘Professional Electoral Management: Building Capacity’. The Electoral Integrity Project, University of Sydney.