The government has set the date of the
elections for the local levels for May 13 this year, and the Election
Commission of Nepal (ECN) has expedited the preparations for the polls, second
edition of the polls to select representatives for the local governments after
the country was ushered into the federal structure. The polls are crucial to
solidify the foundations of the federalism, take the government and public
services at the doorsteps of the public and exercise grassroots democracy. In
this context, Modnath Dhakal of The Rising Nepal talked to Chief
Election Commissioner, Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya. Excerpts:
What preparations are being made for the
upcoming local level elections?
The government has announced the dates of
the local level elections for May 13 this year in consultation with the
Election Commission of Nepal (ECN). So with the mentality of conducting
elections on the stipulated date we have launched preparations at various levels.
We are finalising the voter list, formulating election policy, working
procedure and guidelines and approving them, finalising budget with the consent
from the Ministry of Finance, and conducting meetings with the development
partners and other agencies for monitoring and foreign support. Meanwhile, the
ECN is studying the applications received to register political parties. Registration
of new parties will be concluded before the local level elections. Management
of resource and equipment including vehicles for the elections are also in the
priority. ECN is working as per the approved work schedule.
Has ECN been feeling any pressure or challenge
as the political parties differ in their perspectives on local level elections?
The biggest challenge for us is to educate
the voters through the modal ballot paper with the list of symbols for the
total candidates in each local body so that they could be sensitised on casting
their votes properly. There is a need to create 6743 types of ballot papers for
each ward across the country and send them to all local levels. It can be done in
the final 15 days before the election day. So, we are highly sensitive on this
matter. In the previous election, ECN has printed 70 ballot papers in six
different design and sent them to the local levels.
Election should be held with greater
political consensus but political parties in the country don't have the same
perspective on the election. Coordination with all political parties and other
stakeholders will be enhanced in the days to come. ECN is ready to face these
challenges and move ahead with the required preparations to make the polls
successful. As per the international practice, 120 days are needed to hold
national elections successfully. But elections can be organised in three months
since the date of announcements, we are making preparations for the same.
The government has decided to hold local
level elections in single phase. What sorts of benefits and challenges have you
assessed of this method?
It is cost effective since there is uniformity
in promotion, advertisement, sample ballot paper, documents, trainings and
orientations. If we organise it in single phase, election in a place doesn't
affect polls in another location. Likewise, it is not easy to store the ballot
boxes safely until the second phase of elections if they were held in multiple
phases. ECN has always been advocating for single phase polls for all
elections. However, it increases burden for the election management body while mobilisation
of security forces would also be challenging since every unit across the
country need security. But as per our assessment, there isn't any security
threat for elections.
You said that holding elections across
the country at a time creates challenges in terms of security and human
resources. How do you manage the manpower required for the polls?
The Commission is formulating a guideline
for the management of human resources (HR) for the upcoming elections. There
will be a need of 753 election officers for each local body, 753 assistant
election officers and about 9 staff in every election office. About 23,500
polling centres would be needed according to the present voters' number. This
means if we deploy just 5 staff at a centre, 120,000 staff are needed, however
this HR is needed for the final seven days. We are planning to utilise the HR
available at the local level. Existing government staff and teachers of
community schools in each local body could be enough to address the need for HR
for the polls.
And, what is the plan to manage security
personnel for the polls?
Security strategy is developed jointly with
the Ministry of Home Affairs and security agencies but will be implemented by
the latter. 5-10 security personnel are needed to be mobilised at each polling
station. Temporary police will be hired to support the security agencies in the
polls. Patrolling by security personnel will also be practiced.
What are the ECN's expectations from the
three levels of governments in holding the election?
The greatest support in the elections will
be coming from the federal government. It will support us with human resources,
technology, security and budget. The ECN designs programmes and activities in
close coordination with the line ministry. Local governments can help us in
establishing well-facilitated as well as disabled-and-senior-citizen friendly
polling stations, running election education and awareness, employee and
technical equipment. They can check the activities run to influence the voters.
Provinces can support ECN's office in each province with physical facilities,
HR and documents.
There have been recurrent examples of
the violation of the election code of conduct and misuse of resources to
influence the voters. Is ECN making any preparations to check such practices?
ECN is preparing a new election code of
conduct on the basis of its experiences in the previous polls. It is prepared
with the consultations from all stakeholders, including media reports, and will
be approved within a week from now. Implementation of this code of conduct will
be ensured in cooperation with all political parties by the election officers
in each local body. The new code of conduct has a provision that the monitoring
of the polls will be conducted by the Election Offices set up at the respective
local bodies. The monitoring will be conducted by a team including the
representatives from the political parties contesting the polls. Independent
monitoring will be conducted in some of the risk-prone areas. We are in
discussion with various agencies like National Human Rights Commission, General
Election Observation Committee, National Election Observation Committee and
Transparency International to map such areas. ECN has also formulated new
procedures for the election observers. Likewise, we are planning to install
CCTV cameras in all polling stations to monitor the election day activities.
There have been concerns over the large
election expenses by the candidates. Do you have any strategy to check such
practice?
So far as the expenditure by the government
in election concerned, it is modest with around Rs. 7 per capita cost. Per
capita cost in elections is gradually going down in Nepal. The ECN, security
agencies, party and candidates are the major mobilisers of resources during the
polls. But the concerns are for the party
and candidates for their haphazard expenditure. They pour in a large sum of
money in the elections and create a fuss against it. People are sovereign. Is
that sovereignty a commodity which could be bought or sold? If yes, this is
unfortunate. It would only harm the health of democracy. Until and unless the
parties and candidates don't understand the spirit of election and democracy,
much can't be done in this regard.
There were illegal activities during vote
counting in the previous elections. How do you think it could be checked in the
upcoming elections?
To check such acts, we have changed the
design of vote counting places in the recent elections. We are in the process
to hold step-wise discussions with the election observation agencies. Strong
legal actions and punishment will be taken against perpetrators.
Non-resident Nepalis and migrant Nepali
workers are demanding their rights of vote. What is ECN's take on this?
Current law maintains that to cast a vote
in elections, Nepali citizen should have their name in voters' list. But it
doesn't allow to install a polling booth outside the boundary of the country.
Therefore, those who have their name in the voters list can cast their votes
from their respective polling stations in the country. However, the ECN will
formulate a law with a provision to facilitate Nepalis in foreign countries to
vote in elections in their home country. It has recently obtained the agreement
in principle from the government to create an integrated law for all polls.
Some groups have demanded that the voters'
registration be opened again. Is it possible to open registration for now?
If voters' registration is kept open for
the period after the announcement of the elections, there could be malpractices
to shift voters from one constituency or local level to another. The ECN needs about
40 days to update the voters' details, so if we open registration now,
elections can't be held in time. If anyone is left to get registered, they
should understand this complexity and get their names listed as voters after
the local level elections so that they could cast their votes in subsequent
polls.
To reduce number of vote cancellation,
digital communication campaign would be launched. Notices and reminders would
be sent to the mobile numbers of voters on the day of polls while social media
and online media will be used extensively. We are mulling a new concept on
voters' awareness, to educate them at the polling station before casting their
votes by setting up a help desk and mobilising two educators at each station.
Such education will be conducted in local language, if needed. It is cost
effective and will have full coverage.
The ECN has started preparations for the
use of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in the polls. What is the progress
regarding the application of technology in the elections?
The commission is for the use of EVM to
reduce the cost and complexity in the polls. It will use the machines developed
by youth scientists – Ram and Laxman – after proving their accuracy and authenticity.
If the economic resources allowed and voters could be made ready to use the
machine, the ECN is planning to use EVMs in six metropolitan cities and
municipalities in the Kathmandu Valley in the upcoming local elections. A team
led by joint secretary (technical) at the Ministry of Communication and
Information Technology is studying the prospects for the use of EVM in the
local level polls. We will implement their recommendations as per the consensus
among the political parties.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 11 February 2022.
