The post Mission Accomplished! EU Observation Team Lauds Nepal Polls appeared first on Nepali Sansar.
]]>In the Final Election Observation Report, EU-EOM termed the recently-concluded Nepali elections as ‘historic’ and a milestone activity.
In her comments, Zeljana Zovko, Chief Observer of EU-EOM appreciated the way elections were conducted and said these polls form a key milestone in the implementation of the new Nepali Constitution promulgated in 2015.
Zovko said the legal framework formed a strong basis for the successful conduction of elections.
She further lauded Nepal for ensuring proper implementation of the Right to Vote during the election campaigning process.
The EU-EOM final report included a total of 29 recommendations to the Government of Nepal regarding enforcement of laws to control vote-buying, review of First-Past-The-Post (FTFP) constituency boundaries for effective exercising of Right of Vote and increased transparency from the Election Commission of Nepal.
While the report highlighted’ that ‘the Election Commission of Nepal failed to publish critical information on voter turnout across polling centers and invalid votes along with lack of procedural weaknesses,’ the Election Commissioner Sudhir Shah responded saying, “We also can’t expect standards as high as those applicable in the UK and the US in Nepal at a time when the EC was forced to hold so many elections in less than a year.”
EU also urged for the removal of certain well-represented communities from the inclusion quota under the Proportional Representation (PR) electoral system.
“Review the impact of the quota system on the ethnic composition of the House of Representatives and Provincial Assemblies and ensure the measures of affirmative action apply only to groups that are the subjects of negative discrimination,” noted the report.
Upon the request from the Government of Nepal, EU had deployed around 100 election observers representing 28 EU member states along with Switzerland and Norway, as the special election observation team to monitor the two phases, Phase-I and Phase-II, of Nepal legislative polls for House of Representatives and Assemblies on November 24 and December 07, 2017.
EU had spent an estimated EUR 3.5 million for the mission and had appointed around 38 Long Term Observers (LTOs) across different parts of Nepal to monitor the election preparations and related logistics issues.
“It is a great honor for me to lead the EU Election Observation Mission to Nepal. I’m very committed to accompany Nepal in this important phase of its democratic process,” Zovko stated earlier after the announcement of his team’s help to Nepal elections.
Apart from EU, various other teams including as General Election Observation Committee (GEOC), National Election Observation Committee (NOEC) and Inclusive Women Network for Peace, Justice and Democracy (Sankalp) had also deployed their teams for the successful conduction of elections.
EU had appointed similar missions in 2008 and 2013 as well.
The post Mission Accomplished! EU Observation Team Lauds Nepal Polls appeared first on Nepali Sansar.
]]>The post Nepal General Elections 2017: Call for Peaceful and Efficient Electoral Process appeared first on Nepali Sansar.
]]>“We urge everyone to respect the freedoms of peaceful expression and assembly, and individual voters’ rights as laid out in Nepal’s laws and constitution,” read a statement by the US Embassy in Kathmandu.
In its release, the US Diplomatic Mission to Nepal raised concerns and condemned the recent attacks on political candidates contesting in the upcoming elections.
The Embassy informed that US is committed to working with all stakeholders to ensure an inclusive, peaceful and credible election process.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Nepal Sher Bahadur Deuba directed the security officials to ensure full security to the public in the light of the upcoming general elections.
“The constitution has been promulgated after a long struggle. Election is must for constitution implementation. People should get peaceful environment to cast their votes. Do not leave any stone unturned in security system to save the people’s voting rights,” said Deuba in his address at a security seminar for the upcoming elections in Kathmandu today.
Meanwhile, Home Secretary Mohan Krishna Sapkota said, “Security challenges in elections have already been identified. Problems will be resolved after moving ahead with the effective security plans.”
On the occasion, security chiefs of all districts briefed about their strategies and also highlighted security conditions, challenges and measures to be implemented to ensure safe electoral process.
Meanwhile, the European Union and the renowned NGO Carter Center have already launched their international Election Observation Missions (EBO) for the Nepal’s upcoming provincial and parliamentary elections.
“Every election has their own challenges and the authorities that are preparing the elections have been facing lots of challenges and Nepal is not exempted from that. Especially considering the fact that the local elections were held recently in September, I don’t see any problem in the government’s efforts,” says Zeljana Zovko, Chief Observer of the EU Election Observation Mission.
The EU mission is making an estimated spending of EUR 3.5 million for the process and has deployed around 38 Long Term Observers (LTOs) across different parts of Nepal to monitor the ongoing preparations and related logistic issues.
Whereas, Carter Center has deployed 14 LTOs and a core team of five experts led by Field Office Director Carlos Valenzuela. Altogether, Carter Center’s team has observers representing 13 countries.
“The Carter Center has a long history in Nepal and we are honored to be present for the first national-level elections since the adoption of the constitution. We trust the elections will be peaceful and will help consolidate Nepal’s democracy,” says Mary Ann Peters, CEO of Carter Center and the Ambassador (ret.).
The post Nepal General Elections 2017: Call for Peaceful and Efficient Electoral Process appeared first on Nepali Sansar.
]]>