A CARICOM Electoral Observer Mission will be in St. Kitts and Nevis for the country’s general elections scheduled for Monday.

This follows a practice of fielding missions to member states during such constitutional processes, the CARICOM Secretariat at Turkeyen said in a news release on Thursday.

The mission is funded by the Government of Australia, whose contribution is seen as a critical support of good governance, democracy and the rule of law in the Caribbean community. The Chief of Mission is Versil Charles-Wright of Trinidad and Tobago while the other members of the core group comprise A. Agnes Blaize of Antigua and Barbuda, Earl Simpson of Jamaica and Carson Raggie of Saint Lucia. The mission will be assisted by two staff members of the CARICOM Secretariat.

In the meantime, Charles-Wright arrived in St. Kitts and Nevis Thursday to monitor the pre-elections environment. She and the rest of the core group will depart the CARICOM member state on January 27.

Electoral observer missions are regarded as critical to the community’s efforts to foster democratic principles and the maintenance of good governance in the region. In addition, the release said, it allows for the observation and documentation of the general elections process for the official and historical records of the community. The records are preserved as a point of reference for similar activities in the future.