§ Mr. Ensorasked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs whether the date of the general election in Mauritius has yet been settled; and what arrangements for independent observation of the election he proposes to make.
§ Mrs. HartThe General Election will be held on 7th August. Mr. Maurice Abela of Malta has agreed to be Chairman of the independent team of observers and Mr. A. N. Kashyap of India and Mr. Charles Ross of Canada have agreed to serve as members. All were members of the previous team who observed the registration of electors.
I also hope to appoint a fourth Commonwealth member to the team. His name will be announced later.
In addition, the Government has decided that in view of the crucial nature of the coming Election and the responsibilities of Parliament for the territory, it will be valuable to add to the team two Members of this House. This decision has been conveyed to the Governor, and my hon. Friend the Member for Wandsworth, Central (Dr. David Kerr) and the hon. Member for Antrim, North (Mr. Henry Clark) have agreed to serve as members of the team.
I should like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all members of the team for their willingness to serve and to the Commonwealth Governments concerned for their ready co-operation in making their nominees available for this important task.