§ 29. Mr. ArbuthnotTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will take all possible steps to encourage free and fair elections in Romania.
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§ Mr. WaldegraveWe wish to encourage free and fair elections in Romania. To promote this we invited a group of members of the Romanian political parties to visit the United Kingdom in March to study our political and electoral systems. We hope to fund the visit to Romania of a group of up to 12 local government officers to observe the election campaign and poll on 20 May. We also welcome the decision of the IPU to send observers, and are encouraging the Romanians to invite observers from the Council of Europe. We have also contributed 118 tonnes of paper to a wide range of political parties for their use in the election campaign.