Office turmoil upends U.N. elections official

UNITED NATIONS – Secretary-General Kofi Annan has decided to fire the highly regarded chief of the U.N. office that promotes free elections around the world, a U.N. official said.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because an official announcement is not expected until Monday, said Carina Perelli was being dismissed from the United Nations for harassing staff and failing in her management responsibilities.

Perelli said, “The first I was made aware of this was through the AP story, and I can’t comment further.”

In August, after a four-month review into the claims of an abusive and sexually offensive environment in her division, the United Nations formally accused Perelli of harassing her staff.

She was given the opportunity to respond, but her reply was delayed because she was involved in parliamentary elections in Afghanistan in September and Iraq’s constitutional referendum in October.

Perelli, an Uruguayan, won wide praise for her work in helping organize elections in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories, and had been considered one of the young rising stars at the United Nations.

But she had been under investigation since April, after a U.N.-commissioned management review quoted staff as saying “sexual innuendo is part of the ‘fabric’ ” of the Electoral Assistance Division, which she headed.

The review never named Perelli or anyone else in her office in specific allegations of sexual or professional harassment. But it said staff claimed they were subjected to shouting and screaming by superiors, while some junior staff were saddled with work they were not qualified to do.

The Swiss-based consulting firm Mannet S.A.R.L., which conducted the review, said many staff members reported they “suffered emotionally as a result of the director’s behavior in the office environment.”