It’s a few days after the elections in Nepal and I wish there was some dramatic news, the culmination of some campaign in which everyone can take a deep breath. Or perhaps gasp in surprise. But the main news is not what you would expect…..
The ballots are taking a looooong time to count, and since these are local elections, there is nobody on the top of the ticket to excite the voters and rally them.
Background
Deepak Adhikari, a well-known journalist, wrote this piece before the election to summarize how Nepal got to this round of balloting. aa.com.tr/…
The Ballot
As Adhikari noted, there were 60 different political parties (total) on the ballots. Each physical ballot is about the size of a New York Times page.
The process of counting
The papers showed many pictures of the counting system. First step is to open the ballot boxes and dump them out on the floor in the middle of a circle of election officials. Next step is to pick up each one, unfold it and flatten it out in to neat piles before the counting can begin.
Note to future Nepal Election Commission:
From here I have the impression that each ballot takes longer to count that it did to be cast. One Nepali wag wondered if the full result would be tallied before Dasain (festival happening in late September).
Scenic Drive on long distance “Tourist Bus”
Today I rode from Kathmandu to Bharatpur in the Terai where I will be teaching. We passed through a number of small towns on the way, and in every one there were groups of men waiting outside what I presume is the local election headquarters. There were a fee processions like the one in the cover photo above, and party flags were everywhere ( I want to collect one of each!)
Peaceful exercise of democracy
Voter participation was reported at 75 to 80% of those eligible. There were few if any international observers. ( Jimmy Carter led an international team at one of the first elections after the Civil War, for which he and The Carter Center are deeply respected around these parts). For the most part, the election was peaceful, except that we must recall it’s being held in two phases. The first phase, the one just completed, was in three “hill provinces” and the second phase will be June 14th in the rest, focusing on the Terai region. Now, while the hill province elections were happening, there were reports of political-related violence in the not-voting-til-June regions. Arson of a party district HQ. A street brawl between two groups of “cadre.” Kidnapping a party leader. If this is any indication, the second phase will be a bit wilder and less predictable. The Army and Armed Police Force will most likely be deployed. We can speculate as to the degree of provocation this will trigger. In the Terai, the Army is regarded as a occupying force, not a stabilizing one.
TheTeraiTheTeraiTheTerai
The Terai is the flat part of Nepal that borders with India. We all think of Everest when we think of Nepal, but not many voters live there. For more about the Terai, click here: wp.me/...
Constitutional Amendment stalled
A key aspect of the politics here has been the demand of Terai-based parties to amend the constitution to reflect “one person one vote” more fully ( a goal any American can support). The amendment was brought up in parliament but stalled, most likely a fatal stall. that has left the Terai-based parties in a difficult spot. Their must-have condition is not going to happen. This week, the situation was muddied by the new Ambassador to Nepal from India, who advised to go ahead with the elections anyway. Now, on one level this is “meddling” by a foreign power in a sovereign election. And of course, this was a reversal from what India was thought to have previously supported. On the other hand, India’s never shied away from expressing their opinion about Nepali politics. But it left the Terai-based parties in a state of confusion. This situation will continue to develop. The Terai-based parties have boycotted entire elections in the past, and what has happened has been the parties that participated went ahead to take their seats and make decisions as the lawfully elected persons. Some of the Teri-based parties portray themselves as being more popular than they actually are. For them, the election is a throwing of the gauntlet with the message "bring your people to the polls or risk being irrelevant." So, we'll see what happens with this issue.
UML or “Yewmel”
The party of KP Sharma Oli is the United Marxist Leninists — U.M.L. — they took power just a week after the new constitution and they capitalized on anti-India sentiments when the petrol blockade took place in fall 2015. Mr. KP Sharma Oli did not endear himself to the people of the Terai at that time. In the hill districts, the UML appears to have consolidated more seats in the local bodies. It remains to be seen whether this will lead to success in parliamentary elections in January 2018.
The Mess in Bharatpur
So the rumor was, the daughter of “Prachanda” the current prime minister, was standing for election to the post of Mayor in Bharatpur under the flag of the Marxists. In Kathmandu, KP Sharma Oli and Prachanda announced a “ deal” that UML would support the Marxist for mayor. But nobody told the local elections officials how to count this. The Marxist candidate got fewer votes than the UML, but then claimed that all the UML-marked ballots were really for her, not the UML candidate. At last word, this is being worked out.
Bottom Line
It was smoother than it might have been. Now, for the first time in twenty years, local decisions will be made by locally-elected officials, not by bureaucrats sent by the central government. It’s not over, and next month’s balloting will be more contentious.