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 effect of the EU's decision to withdraw observers from Ethiopia’s planned federal elections on democracy in that country.

We note the EU's decision on 3 May not to deploy an Electoral Observation Mission as they have not been able to reach agreement with the Ethiopian authorities on the EU's requirements on the importation of telecommunications equipment and on the public reporting of their findings. Observers and journalists have a vital role to play and need to be able to report freely and safely on elections - we have raised this with the Ethiopian authorities. The UK and other local Diplomatic missions will observe voting and are also visiting polling stations to observe the voter registration process and security arrangements.