ADVISORY: WFU professor available to comment on trip to advise Iraqi election advocates

Allan Louden with two seminar attendees in Amman, Jordan.

Allan Louden, Wake Forest University political communication expert, is available to speak with the media about his recent visit to Amman, Jordan, to teach young Iraqi election advocates how to prepare for the general assembly elections on Jan. 30.

Louden said the group was focused on unifying the people of Iraq to form a nation of voters.

“They were focused on unity — not differences,” Louden said. “There was no way of telling which were Shiite and which were Sunni Muslims — both may have been present — but it was not an issue. The real issue to this group was the importance of getting the election to work, by getting people to vote.”

The advocates were men and women between the ages of 18 and 30, and came from different regions of Iraq. During the four-day seminar, they learned about the democratic voting process through mock press conferences, political debates and elections.

The seminar was sponsored by the International Debate Education Association (IDEA), a non-governmental organization.

Louden is associate professor of communication at Wake Forest. He is the director of Wake Forest’s nationally ranked debate program and has been a source for numerous national media on the topic of political communication.

Contact Louden directly at 336-758-5408 or louden@wfu.edu, or through Maggie Barrett at 336-758-5237 or barretmb@wfu.