Jersey politicians to assess UK general election

Representatives will write a report to help "strengthen the election process in the future"

States members from Jersey will be part of a Commonwealth mission assessing the UK general election on Thursday.

Deputies Hilary Jeune, Tom Coles and Inna Gardiner will be working alongside 32 other Commonwealth parliamentarians to observe and assess the electoral process.

Guernsey's Deputy Chief Minister Deputy Heidi Soulsby was selected as an independent observer in June and Ian Carter will be representing Alderney.

The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) said the assessment would be used to write a report to "strengthen the election process in the future".

Each representative group will be focusing on a variety of demographics, regions and voting patterns - visiting polling stations, speaking to election officials and political representatives to see how the election is run in each area.

The CPA said groups will be asked to provide observations, findings and make recommendations two months after the election.

'Strengthening democracies'

Dr Otiende Amollo, head of mission and member of the National Assembly of Kenya, said the work would play "an important role in strengthening democracies".

He said: "The parliamentarians being deployed in the UK are drawn from regions across the Commonwealth and will be impartial observers of the voting process.

"We look forward to observing electoral practices in a variety of contexts, regions and nations, reflecting the diversity of the United Kingdom itself."