Federal-Provincial and Local level elections 2079 have been held in all the districts of Nepal. 4-H Nepal had received permission for election observation from the Election Commission and 534 observers were delegated to more than 250 polling stations in 39 districts. This election has ensured the continuity of the local-level government. It is believed worldwide that periodic elections should be free, impartial, fearless and peaceful if not done a state of distrust is formed towards the government, political parties and the Election Commission.

Democracy is a political system that reaches citizens legitimately policies maintaining the rule of law. Therefore, periodic elections are inevitable in a democratic system. Voting in elections is a sovereign and fundamental right of the voters. Voters can choose the right representatives only if there is a clean, credible, dignified and impartial election. Only fair elections can contribute to the consolidation and development of the democratic system.

The enthusiasm of the people seen in this election, the wide and strong participation of the younger generation, and the wide representation of women and Dalits will strengthen democracy. This election will play an important role in bringing the rights provided by the new constitution to the doorsteps of the people.

Finding of Election Observation

▪ Like in previous elections, voters with disabilities found it difficult to cast their ballots in some places. Polling stations were not seen to be disability friendly.

▪ It was seen that it took time to search for the names of the voters who had taken voter ID cards for the last election due to different serial numbers and this delayed the voting process. In some polling stations, voter identity cards were not found, but in some places, voter ID cards were sent to one polling station and the names were found in another polling station.

▪ Voters were found to be confused about the polling process which showed that voters’ education was inadequate.

▪ The lines of male and female voters were segregated at the polling stations and arrangements were made for easy voting for senior citizens, pregnant women, people with disabilities and unwell voters.

▪ Despite good security facilities in the polling centres, some of the centres lacked security in outer spheres.

▪ Polling was found to be confusing and crowded due to the stationing of polling booths in inappropriate places.

▪ Overall, the polling centres led by women were found to be well managed.

▪ No hurdles were created for the entry of observers in the polling centres. However, monitoring of the polling centres wasn’t easy.

▪ The behaviour of officials and police toward the observers was respectful.

▪ Cadres of the Nepali congress tore all the ballot papers after finding out that one set of ballot papers was distributed for voting without the signature of the polling officer at Bhagwati Secondary School polling centre of Simta Rural Municipality-1, Surkhet.

Conclusion:

While acknowledging that the government, political parties along the election commission didn’t leave any stone unturned in order to make the election impartial and fear-free, several incidents of violation of the code of conduct, blame games and attacks have been documented. The value of the election will be increased only if the election is free, impartial and fear-free. It is adamant that the value of election will further be strengthened if the drawbacks seen in the implementation of the code of conduct are addressed and action is taken against the violators of the same. We are of the view that it would be better if the election commission holding the responsibility of conducting upcoming federal and provincial level elections made an action plan with due consideration to the lessons learned via the former election.

People couldn’t trust the action procedures implemented by the commission upon the lodged complaints of violation of election code of conduct, since no reliable information on the same has been disseminated. This is also found to be one of the reasons why the cases of violation of the code of conduct didn’t decrease.

There were instances where voters were influenced by inappropriate campaigning, misuse of money during the period of electoral silence, parties and so on and so forth. It triggered the realization that the elections are becoming costly and the idea that they need to win the election by hook or by crook is being developed amongst the political parties. The value of the election will be increased if the drawbacks seen in the implementation of the election code of conduct are addressed and action is taken against the violators.