Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for free and fair elections in Malaysia of the re-drawing of parliamentary constituency boundaries in that country.

I am aware of concerns related to the electoral boundary changes introduced by the Election Commission. We will be monitoring their impact, and have discussed the importance of free and fair elections with the Malaysian Government at the highest levels. Most recently the Minister for Asia and the Pacific raised these issues with the Malaysian Senate President on 18 April.