Nepalese
are celebrating their new year today---the start of Bikram Samwat 2065.
As usual, much pomp and ceremony is bringing in the new year. Chariots
are being pulled, buffalos and goats are being sacrificed, lamps are being
lit—as an auspicious new year begins on this first day of Baisakh,
the lunar calendar.
In
some special way, this new year also brings in a ‘new era’
in Nepal. Just three days ago, on the 28th day of Chaith, the Nepalese
people cast their votes for a new Constituent Assembly which will decide
on the future of democratic governance in Nepal. After a decade of violence
and struggle, the coalition of seven political parties, including Maoists,
agreed to hold universal elections to elect a Constituent Assembly, which
will frame a new constitution for democratic republic of Nepal. The much
postponed elections to this Constituent Assembly were finally scheduled
for April 10, 2008.
We
were invited to be a part of a South Asian civil society group, under
the banner of South Asia Partnership International, to observe the elections
in Nepal. As we landed in Kathmandu, much of the air of expectancy could
be felt though the streets were deserted, all shops closed. We thought
some violent incident had occurred, only to realize that the government
had declared a five day official holiday in the country to facilitate
free and fair elections. After the usual briefings, we set out in the
lanes and streets of Kathmandu & Lalitpur (other members of our team
had gone out to the northern and eastern districts).
We
set out at 6.30 am on the polling day to monitor and observe elections.
When we arrived in the first polling station of Lalitpur 3 constituency,
we were surprised to see people already in the queue, awaiting the start
of polling at 7 am. But, the polling staff were not ready, and decided
to have some tea at 7 am, before voting could begin. We travelled to 12
polling stations spread over 5 constituencies that day. In the morning,
long queues of enthusiastic voters were patiently awaiting their turn.
A very large number of women were among the early voters. Women’s
participation in voting was most impressive. By 11 am, after 4 hours of
polling, more than 40% of the votes had been cast in all constituencies.
The process slowed down during the hot mid-day, but picked up again by
3 pm, as queues of voters had increased again.
Polling
process in all places was peaceful and unhindered. The election staff
were very helpful to the disabled and the elderly; the voters stood for
2-3 hours very patiently in the queues; the system of casting two ballots
seemed to be not much confusing. The election system for Constituent assembly
had three methods of selecting representatives—first past the post
to elect 240 members; proportionate system on party lines (54 parties
in all) to elect 335 members; and, 32 members to be nominated by the government
of the day.
What was really striking to us was the culture of informality and comraderie that characterized the process of voting. Though officials on poll duty and agents of candidates/parties were wearing different coloured identity cards, it was hard to distinguish between them in actual practice. Agents of parties and candidates (averaging about 7 in each polling station) were helping officials in opening and counting ballot papers, identification of voters, guidance to voters where to go for casting the ballots, sealing ballot boxes, etc. For the strict proceduralists among us, this informality and blurring of roles and boundaries between party agents and polling officials was highly objectionable and undesirable. The agents were screening voters; they were sitting anywhere in the booth; the voters were chatting with agents inside the booth; some agents were walking through the lines of voters awaiting their turn, obviously carrying out informal campaigning. From our experiences of elections in India, this informality was surprising, though quite compelling. The air of informality and ease of interactions among officials, agents and voters had a certain charm about it, unlike the hostility, formality and tension that we witness during our polling process in India.
Security
staff were on duty, including several of those who were temporarily appointed
for 1-3 months; but they were again part of the culture of relaxed informality.
Security personnel were placed in different sites within the polling stations,
but not necessarily in a strict and fixed manner. One of our Pakistani
colleagues remarked that such ‘laxity’ in securing the ballot
boxes could easily result in rigging of polling in her country; we know
that from Indian experience too.
The
most unique part of Nepal’s elections was the official presence
of a huge number of election observers and monitors. The Chief Election
Commissioner of Nepal, Mr Bhoj Raj Pokharel, has to be congratulated for
this innovation. There were nearly 800 international observers---the usuals
like the European Union, the United Nations and the Carter Centre (President
Jimmy Carter himself was camping there). But, we also saw vehicles and
observers from UK, Japan, USA, etc. There were, interestingly for us,
no ‘official’ election observers from India!
In
addition, and perhaps most impressively, the Election Commission had appointed
its own non-official observers; it had also accredited about ten national/international
civil society coalitions to act as election observers. It was reported
that nearly 65,000 domestic Nepalese people were acting as formally accredited
election observers. These observers were present in each polling station
we visited; they were busy in observing the process, some passively, and
some very actively. The Election Commission had briefed these networks/coalitions
about the polling process and code of conduct for observers. The coalitions
had done some orientation and training of their volunteers as observers.
Most of these observers were young men and women, very smart, enthusiastic
and serious about the business of observing the polling process.
What
an amazing process! Can we imagine India’s national Election Commission
accrediting hundreds of thousands of civil society observers? Surely,
we should demand that this be done from next round of elections! Any takers
for Karnataka Assembly polling next month?
The
air of festivity and informality was also visible outside the polling
stations. Hundreds of people, including scores of women, just hung around
polling stations, merely observing the process. There was no visible sign
of political party booths outside the polling stations, though some groups
of agents were helping voters to read their names and numbers in the voters’
lists. The sheer presence of such large numbers of citizens throughout
the polling period just around the polling stations could act as a deterrent
to any mischief inside the polling station. What an inspiring, inclusive
and participatory methodology of election watching!
As
we write this reflection today, early results have begun to come in. The
performance of Maoists has far exceeded their own and others’ expectations.
The Maoists are heading for a clear majority among those elected in the
first-past-the-post method. While some of this is the reflection of the
hard struggles of Maoists themselves, such astoundingly favourable results
for them are also due to the rejection of ‘old’ style politics
and leadership of the more entrenched parties like Nepali Congress and
UML. These trends may well be further reinforced as results from proportional
system begin to come in later next week.
So,
the ‘new era’ in Nepal would certainly make the system of
governance in the country more democratic, republic, federalist and inclusive.
The 250 years of monarchy would be eased out constitutionally. But, the
challenge of rebuilding a democratic and inclusive society in Nepal would
be huge for the ‘new’ leadership of the Maoists in whom Nepalese
people have now reposed such faith and responsibility.
April 13, 2008, Kathmandu