To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy for the UK or the EU to send international observers to the referendum to be held in the Maldives on 18 August. (154470)

At short notice, the Maldivian Government invited the EU, Commonwealth and the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation to observe the referendum. The EU and Commonwealth were unable to send formal observer missions, although the Commonwealth did send a small Election Experts Team. Officials from our High Commission in Colombo, accredited to Maldives, visited the country on polling day and met key stakeholders.