Friday, 18 July 2008

Parkes MP to observe Cambodian elections

ABC Central West

The Federal MP for Parkes, Mark Coulton says he is looking forward to a visit to Cambodia next week where he will be observing the general elections as part of an international UN team.

Mr Coulton will be accompanied by MPs from Australia's major political parties who will represent the Government on the six-day trip.

The team will meet with election officials as well as monitoring voting and counting in a bid to make sure the elections are fair.

Mr Coulton says he has never done election monitoring before and hopes the trip will help strengthen Australia's relationship with Cambodia.

"[We're going] to show the Cambodian people that we are watching and that it's important to conduct the election properly, but also to show the support of Australia for an emerging nation and I think that's a good thing to do for your neighbours," he said.

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