Kathmandu: 16th November 2013
I am here in Kathmandu, Nepal as an election observer. National Election Observation Committee has invited some 20 international observers, and I am one of them. NEOC established in 1991, is a coalition of human rights groups, civil society organizations and distinguished individuals. NEOC is founding member of Asian Network For Free Elections (ANFREL).
The general elections are taking place on 19th November for 240 constituencies to be elected on First Past The Post (FPTP) basis. Total numbers of seats in the Constituent Assembly is 601, out of which 240 will be directly elected on 19th November 2013 while 335 will be elected by proportional representation basis and 26 will be nominated.
There are 6128 candidates contesting the seat, among them 5459 are male, 668 are female and one is third gender. Another 11003 candidates are in the lists for proportional representation system. Total number of voters are over 12147865, among them female voters are more than male voters, 6166829 are female and 5980881 are male voters.
The total numbers of votes in one constituency varies from a maximum of 82218 to the lowest of 4795 and there are a total of 10013 poling stations all over the country.
The last general election for the constituent assembly took place in 2008. Communist Party Of Nepal Maoist emerged as the largest party while Nepali Congress and Communist Party of Nepal Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) emerged as second and third largest parties in the elections. The assembly failed to agree on a constitution within the given time of two years, several extensions also met the same fate.
Supreme Court of Nepal took over power after several unsuccessful attempt to reach a consensus among the three main political parties on formulation of the Constitution. The chief justice of Nepal is also acting as prime minister and has called this general election under supervision of the Nepal Election Commission.
CPN Maoist split during the last three years and has now divided into two main groups, United Communist Party of Nepal Maoist (UCPN Maoist) and Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist).
CPN-Maoist along with several small parties have boycotted this general election on the basis of two main reasons. 1- For an overall review the whole process of failure of the constitution making, 2- not to contest under a government of chief justice of Supreme Court who is also prime minister. They demanded the resignation of the chief justice.
CPN-Maoist has called for a general strike and is have some effect on transport and other areas. There has been several incident of violence including this morning (16 November) bomb attack on a bus injuring several in Kathmandu.
At an informal meeting of NEOC this morning, we were told that by Surya Prasad Sherstha, chairman NEOC and a former Nepal chief election commissioner and by Dr Gopal Krishna Siwakoti project director NEOC that Maoist boycott could result in a low vote by at least 10 percent. This is because of the violence they are using to frighten the voters.
NEOC has mobilized over 10,000 election observers in all parts of Nepal and has a vast experience of observation of the general elections.
The three main parties CPM UML, UCPN-Maoist and Nepali Congress will fetch most of the 240 seats. Nepal is the only country in South Asia where the three out the four large political parties call themselves Communists. Communists have been in power several times and effect of the collapse of Soviet Union was minimum in Nepal where communists remained a mass forces in form of various trends and grouping.
When I left this morning for a morning walk in Lalitpur area of Kathmandu, there were every where hammer and sickle signs on the posters, a welcoming sign, unlike Pakistan where most of posters starts with religious writings.
During 2008 general elections, Maoist had a clean sweep in Katmandu 10 seats, they fetched 7 out of 10 seats. I heard that this is not the case this time.
I will try to write every day about my observations and views about Nepal general elections.
Farooq Tariq
General Secretary Awami Workers Party