Another trip

NZPA report:

Labour MP Chris Carter is to lead a team monitoring general elections in the Caribbean state of St Kitts and Nevis.

Mr Carter said Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma asked him to head the five-person team monitoring the January 25 election.

The last election in 2004 was plagued by allegations of corrupt practices.

The team would spend 10 days in St Kitts and Nevis. It would write a report on the election.

I would have thought Chris would be too busy, helping assess the situation in Haiti.

St Kitts and Nevis has a population of only 40,000 and 11 MPs to elect, so shouldn’t be too hard to monitor.  It is basically the size of a single electorate in New Zealand. By size – I mean population. In a geographic sense, it is tiny – only 100 square miles in area.

To make up for the massive amount of travel every day, to monitor the elections, the climate seems nice. Lonely Planet says:

There’s really no bad time to go to St Kitts and Nevis. The hot Caribbean summer contrasts with cool low-season deals at the resorts.

Winter days average a temperature of 81°F (27°C) while summers shoot up to a still ­respectable 86°F (30°C).

Now of course it is an honour to be chosen by the Commonwealth Secretary-General to spends ten days monitoring elections in the Caribbean. I just have one question. Does the Commonwealth Secretary-General pick monitors at random out of all the MPs in the Commonwealth, or do you like, you know, apply to be chosen?