Brian Speers

Mr Speers, managing partner of CMG Cunningham Dickey and a former president of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA) and the Law Society of Northern Ireland, will travel to Islamabad with the 13-member Commonwealth Observer Group (COG).

The group, appointed by the Commonwealth secretary-general, will offer an independent and comprehensive assessment of the electoral process as Pakistan heads to the polls on 8 February 2024.

This will involve detailed briefings in Islamabad from politicians, election officials, civic society groups and others before deployment to various locations in Pakistan to observe the election visiting polling stations and meeting security and election officials as well as voters.

The COG, chaired by former Nigerian president Dr Goodluck Jonathan, will arrive in Islamabad on 1 February 2024.

Mr Speers has extensive international legal experience and previously participated in observing the 2023 elections in Zimbabwe.

He said: “I am honoured to have again been asked to take part in a Commonwealth election observer group and look forward to joining my colleagues in Islamabad to be briefed and then to observe all aspects of the election process in Pakistan.”