Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the debate on the report entitled Observation of the early parliamentary elections in Montenegro, which was held at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 9 October 2023.

The UK welcomes the Council of Europe (CoE) Parliamentary Assembly's 9 October debate on the observation of the early parliamentary elections in Montenegro. The UK understands the importance of election monitoring. We supported a local Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) to provide early projections of election results, as part of a package of CSSF-funded projects to strengthen election integrity against destabilising influences. We now look forward to government formation and furthering our support for Montenegro to conduct free and fair democratic processes and to strengthen electoral practices in line with Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and CoE recommendations.