From 2 to 4 July, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK (CPA UK), in its role as secretariat for the British Islands and Mediterranean Region (BIMR) of the CPA, will deploy impartial parliamentary observers from around the Commonwealth to conduct an Election Assessment Mission of the 2024 UK General Election. 

In total, 32 Commonwealth parliamentarians will travel to eight constituencies across the UK to observe and assess the electoral process this July. The constituencies, which include seats in regions of Birmingham, Glasgow, Northumberland, East London, Bristol, Cambridgeshire, Brighton and Liverpool, were carefully selected to provide a broad sample, covering a variety of demographics, regions and voting patterns. The teams will visit polling stations and speak to election officials and political representatives to see how the election is run in those locations.

At the end of the Mission participants will make recommendations for future UK General Elections, supporting the UK’s ability to benefit and learn from its membership of the Commonwealth. This will take the form of a preliminary statement on Friday 5 July, followed by a detailed report, containing findings and recommendations, published two months after the General Election. Both will be shared with the Electoral Commission and relevant Returning Officers to support their work analysing lessons learnt from the 2024 General Election.  

Parliamentarians from Alderney, Anguilla, Australia, Grenada, Guernsey, Jersey, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Malta, Mauritius, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos are all participating.     

At the end of the Mission, the observers will make recommendations to strengthen the election process in future UK General Elections. The teams will issue a preliminary statement on Friday 5 July with initial observations. This will be followed by a detailed report, containing findings and recommendations, published two months after the General Election. Both will be shared with the Electoral Commission and Returning Officers to support their work in analysing the 2024 General Election.   

This Electoral Assessment Mission will be led by Hon. Dr. Otiende Amollo, the Head of Mission and member of the National Assembly of Kenya, who said:  

“I welcome this opportunity to work with Commonwealth parliamentarians to observe the 2024 General Election in the United Kingdom on 4 July. I know from my own experience that election missions play an important role in strengthening democracies.  

“Our role will be to observe the democratic process, share our findings and make recommendations in line with international best practice. 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.” 

Sarah Dickson, the Chief Executive of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK, explained the organisation was set up “over 100 years ago to strengthen ties between the parliaments of the Commonwealth. The UK branch is based in the Houses of Parliament in Westminster; it also acts as regional Secretariat for all parliaments of the British Islands and Mediterranean Region (CPA BIMR), supporting their representation among the wider Commonwealth community. 

“Our core mission is to strengthen parliamentary democracy and therefore we regularly assess and issue recommendations to improve the electoral process across the British Islands and Mediterranean.  We are delighted to invite Commonwealth parliamentarians to participate in one of our biggest election missions ever this July for the UK General Election.”   

Since 2010, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK branch and the British Islands and Mediterranean Region have organised nineteen short-term Election Observer Missions and Election Assessment Missions, most recently in Jersey and the British Virgin Islands in 2022 and 2023. To assess the impact of its election assessment work, CPA UK commissioned an independent report, published earlier this year, which concluded that “these missions are overwhelmingly valuable and effective.” 

However, this is not the first time Commonwealth MPs have observed a UK General Election – previous election assessment missions were carried out in 2015 and 2017.    

CPA British Islands and Mediterranean Region is a signatory to the Declaration of Principles of International Election Observation and Code of Conduct for International Election Observers, agreed at the UN in 2005, and is committed to ensuring a professional approach based on observation of all aspects of the electoral process in accordance with international obligations, commitments and standards for democratic elections.