POLITICS-NEPAL: Violence-Threatened Poll Passes Peacefully

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Suman Pradhan

KATHMANDU, May 17 1999 (IPS) - Nepal’s ruling partners, the centrist Nepali Congress (NC) and the Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), are already staking claims to form the new government after polling ended late Monday.

Earlier in the day, millions of people in the eastern, central and western parts of the country voted in the election, spread over two days to allow election authorities to conduct a free and fair poll.

Radical left Maoist militants who have been fighting to replace constitutional rule with hard-line republicanism had threatened to disrupt the elections with attacks on candidates and polling booths across the country.

A total of 1,213 candidates — 65 of them women — contested elections to the 205-seat House of Representatives or lower house of parliament, conducted over two days, May 3 and May 17.

The final results of the elections are expected to be announced in a week’s time as results from remote villages in inaccessible mountain areas will take time to reach Kathmandu.

Who will get to form Nepal’s ninth government in as many years will be decided between the two major parties, NC and CPN- UML, who are ruling partners of an alliance formed late last year to primarily conduct the elections.

Reports trickling into the capital say that voting in most constituencies has passed off peacefully due to the presence of army and police personnel who were specially mobilised on election duty.

“There haven’t been any unpleasant incidents so far,” Harsha Subba, a local journalist said by telephone from Sunsari district in the country’s east earlier in the day.

The district is a VIP constituency with National Congress president and Nepal’s Prime Minister Koirala seeking re-election from Sunsari. Koirala who is also contesting from Biratnagar, his home constituency, told reporters after casting his vote that his party would form a government.

Shanker Kharel, a reporter who was present, quoted the prime minister as saying, “this election will prove the people’s trust in the Nepali Congress. We will form the next government.”

Meanwhile, the powerful general secretary of the CPN-UML, Madhav Kumar Nepal also made similar claims. “No party other than ours is trusted by the people. I am certain we will be given the opportunity to form a majority government.”

The centrist National Congress has a slight edge over the CPN-UML Marxist Leninist because of a split in the party last year and the death last month of its leader Manmohan Adhikari who was the only serious challenge to Prime Minister Koirala.

Elections were called by the ruling governing alliance to enlarge their political support. But most political observers predict the exercise will yield another hung parliament and jockeying for power by rival coalitions.

An opinion poll published by ORG-MARG group and Himal Newsmagazine has predicted a hung parliament with no party winning a majority to stake claim.

Up for re-election are a bevy of former prime ministers: Sher Bahadur Deuba of the National Congress; Lokendra Bahadur Chand of the Rashtriya Prajatantra Party (Chand); Surya Bahadur Thapa of the Rashtriya Prajatantra Party; and Koirala.

Nepal has had three general elections since 1990 and six changes of government since the last poll in 1994. In 1990, one- party rule was replaced by democracy and a new Constitution that clipped the wings of the king.

However, the frequent changes of government and its inability to rule or control the spread of violence have led to widespread popular disenchantment with the political process.

The World Bank last week expressed concern that the three months prior to the holding of fresh elections all development work had ground to a halt.

Polling in nearly 70 constituencies was ordered cancelled following clashes between rival groups that led to five deaths on the first day of voting.

Election observers said many voters were also coerced by security personnel to cast their vote in Rolpa and Rukum districts, the stronghold of the Maoists who had ordered voters to stay at home.

Human Rights and Peace Society (HURPES), one of the

independent poll observers, said, “there were a number of irregularities in some booths, including booth capturing, and coercing of voters.” The government has denied the charge.

According to the Election Commission, voter turnout in Rukum and Rolpa were a paltry 30-35 percent compared to the nationwide average of 64 percent in the first round of polling. Many voters, it is reported, stayed home for fear of violence.

The Election Commission, which oversees the polls, said they had again received sketchy reports of violence during the second phase of polling, but more details would follow.

According to the Commission, more than half of Nepal’s 12 million voters eligible to exercise their franchise had voted in this general election.