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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Rowena Mason Whitehall editor

Tory MP criticised for Kazakhstan-funded £5k trip to observe elections

Daniel Kawczynski Kazakhstan Human Rights Democracy
Daniel Kawczynski, MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, has defended his trip, saying it is ‘important to engage with countries like Kazakhstan’
Daniel Kawczynski, MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, defended his trip, saying it is ‘important to engage with countries like Kazakhstan’. Photograph: Dinendra Haria/Rex/Shutterstock

The Conservative MP Daniel Kawczynski is facing criticism after the Kazakh government funded a £5,100 trip for him to observe elections and quoted him praising the country’s “functioning democracy”.

Kawczynski, a trade envoy for the prime minster, Rishi Sunak, travelled to watch parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan in March amid concerns among human rights groups about the treatment of Zhanbolat Mamai, the leader of the unregistered Democratic party. Mamai was this month banned from political activism and journalism for six years.

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