With thousands of seats remaining vacant and hundreds others elected unopposed, elections are going to be held for 618 positions only in 36 municipalities across the country on February 8, officials said.
According to the Election Commission (EC), voting will be held in 34 municipalities for the post of mayor and in 25 municipalities for the post of deputy mayor. Similarly, voting will be conducted to elect 197 ward chairmen, 291 ward members and 71 female members on the day.
The commission had announced that mayors in 24 municipalities and deputy mayors in 31 municipalities were elected unopposed. Likewise, 389 ward chairmen, 618 ward members and 214 female members were declared elected unopposed.
Nominations were not filed in two posts of two deputy mayors, 220 ward chairmen, 1,508 ward members and 521 female members. 58 mayors, deputy mayors in same number, 806 ward chairmen, 2,418 ward members and 806 female members were to be elected for 50 municipalities in the country.
With less than a week to go for municipal elections, only one organisation has contacted the Election Commission (EC) to monitor the polls.
According to EC officials, four groups had applied for observing the polls, but only one, Volunteers for Peace, has actually been in contact with the commission while other three groups did not contact after filing applications.
The other three applicants were National Unity Youth Awareness Group, Nepal, Rural Women and Indigenous People Development Center and Chautari Nepal.
Responding to a query whether the elections would be fair without independent observers, spokesperson of the EC, Tejmuni Bajracharya, said “it does not need any certification from human rights groups saying the elections were held in a free and fair manner”. He said that despite repeated request by the commission, none of the human rights groups that had worked as observers in former elections, have applied for monitoring.
Bajracharya further said the foreign observers were not necessary in local elections, adding there were no foreign observers in previous elections as well.
On Saturday, the EC will provide permission to any organization applying for polls monitoring upon fulfilling the criteria, he informed.
Meanwhile, leading human rights groups have reiterated that they would denounce the observation of municipal polls being conducted by the royal government.
In an interaction programme organized by the Forum for Protection of Human Rights (FOPHUR), former justice of Supreme Court Laxman Prasad Aryal said that observation of municipal polls has no meaning when the state has been terrorising people to compel them to cast vote.
He further said the upcoming election would in no way be called ‘genuine elections’ – defined by the International Covenants of Civil and Political Rights – when it is conducted at the time sovereign rights of people have been snatched away. Aryal also made it a point to claim that the elections would not be free and fair because the EC has been working under pressure from the government.
Political analyst Prof Krishna Pokhrel said that general concept of election is to find solution to conflicts but, in Nepal’s case, the forthcoming elections are going to intensify the conflict.
Senior advocate Bishwa Kant Mainali said there would have been monitoring had the government created situation where major political parties could take part.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the NGO Federation Nepal and a number of other human rights groups have already declared not to observe the municipal elections but they would closely monitor the incidences of human rights violence during the polls.
A leading international rights watchdog, Amnesty International (AI) has called on His Majesty King Gyanendra to act immediately on his pledge of total commitment to human rights principles and statement that “people must be allowed to exercise their democratic rights in a peaceful manner.” The Amnesty quoted His Majesty’s remarks in a proclamation to the nation on Wednesday on the anniversary of his direct rule.
”For these statements to be made true, the government must release immediately and unconditionally all those who have been detained for the peaceful exercise of their rights during a crackdown on the political opposition over the past two weeks,” the Amnesty said in its statement on Thursday.
According to reliable estimates, more than 1,350 people have been arrested since 19 January for either organizing or participating in political demonstrations. Of those, at least 888 are believed to be still detained. The majority of those detained have been non-violent protestors—including prominent peace activists such as Krishna Pahadi, Dr. Mathura Shrestha, and Dr. Devendra Raj Panday, the Amnesty statement said.
While most of the attention has been focused on events in the Kathmandu Valley, there are concerns that security forces in outlying districts are operating with little scrutiny, the London-based rights watchdog said.
On 1 February, for instance, local activists reported that of 54 people arrested during a rally in the western town of Birendranagar, in Surkhet district, 20 were wounded or seriously injured by members of the security forces. The security force personnel reportedly kicked demonstrators and beat them with batons, even after taking them into custody. Security force personnel were also said to have fired 15 rounds of teargas, shot guns into the air, and threw stones at demonstrators from rooftop positions—all of which contributed to an atmosphere of panic, the statement added.
Amnesty International also called on the government to investigate promptly all allegations involving the use of excessive force to control demonstrations.
In addition, the government must lift restrictions on freedoms of assembly, association and expression that have been imposed through a series of royal ordinances and bureaucratic regulations since the royal takeover one year ago, the statement said.
Restrictions on civil and political rights have made it increasingly difficult for human rights defenders, including journalists, to carry out their monitoring work—thereby masking the severity of ongoing human rights abuses committed in the context of Nepal’s decade-long armed conflict between the security forces and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the Amnesty said.
In a separate statement issued on Tuesday, Amnesty International had called the CPN (Maoist) to end all violent attacks on civilians. The AI urged the CPN (Maoist) leadership to state publicly and unequivocally that it was against the Party’s policy to target civilians, including election candidates, and to instruct its cadres accordingly.
Amnesty International also calls on the CPN (Maoist) to remove from their posts any cadres responsible for human rights abuses.
A senior European Union (EU) diplomat, Javier Solana, has said he remains concerned by what he called lack of progress towards a return to democratic government at a time when Nepal faced many challenges to its stability.
EU?s representative for foreign and security policy Javier Solana (Photo source: newsfromrussia.com)
EU’s representative for foreign and security policy Javier Solana (Photo source: newsfromrussia.com)
In a statement issued on the occasion of the completion of first year of the direct royal rule in Nepal, Solana—who is the EU’s High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)—said the European Union “has made clear on repeated occasions, as a long-standing friend and partner of Nepal, that it shares His Majesty’s wish (from his proclamation to the nation last February) that Nepal be seen as ‘a progressive nation, occupying a pride of place in the international community, where democratic ideals thrive in a peaceful environment.’
“This is the right objective and can be attained. But in order for it to happen there has to be an urgent change of direction to deliver the peace, democracy and other civil liberties that the people of Nepal want and need,” The Hindu, a leading Indian newspaper, quoted Solana as saying.
“While the EU understands the difficulty of the security and humanitarian situation in the face of repeated Maoist atrocities, including Tuesday’s senseless attack, which we condemn unreservedly, it cannot condone the Government’s restrictions on the exercise of fundamental rights by the Nepalese people and its failure to engage on a negotiated settlement to the conflict,” Solana said. “It has long been clear that there can be no military solution to the current situation,” he added.
Mr. Solana urged His Majesty King Gyanendra and the royal government to show the necessary leadership and foresight by restoring all political and civil liberties, resuming dialogue with the main parties and taking steps towards a cease-fire and inclusive national dialogue to bring an end to the conflict.
“The sad failure by the King and his government to declare a truce and to engage in dialogue at the time of the recent Maoist unilateral ceasefire was an opportunity missed,” he said.
EU flag (File Photo)
EU flag (File Photo)
Solana also said that he, together with the whole EU, would continue to monitor closely the situation in Nepal and to press for early progress towards peace and genuine democracy, according to the news report.
In a statement issued on Friday, the European Union had called upon the King, the Nepal government and security forces to immediately restore all political and civil liberties in accordance with Nepal’s international obligations, immediately release all political prisoners and human rights defenders, and ensure that political and civil rights, including freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, can be exercised peacefully.
Home Minister Kamal Thapa on Thursday visited Palpa district headquarters, Tansen, to take stock of the damages caused in a Maoist attack on a number of security and administrative installations on Tuesday night.
Minister Thapa landed in Palpa at around 11:00 a.m. and inspected the destroyed government offices and security posts and held discussions with security heads based in the district, reports said.
At least 15 persons including 11 security personnel died in the overnight clash while the rebels bombed many government offices. Chief district office of Palpa and some security men are still out of contact.
Life is gradually returning to normal in the district headquarters with telephone and transportation services resuming from today. Security forces cleared a huge number of explosives left behind by the Maoists after the attack, reports added.
Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has launched an investigation into human rights violations in the Tansen incident.
A four-member team led by commissioner member Dr Ram Dayal Rakesh left for the Palpa district headquarters today, according to the NHRC.
Home Minister Kamal Thapa on Thursday visited Palpa district headquarters, Tansen, to take stock of the damages caused in a Maoist attack on a number of security and administrative installations on Tuesday night.
Minister Thapa landed in Palpa at around 11:00 a.m. and inspected the destroyed government offices and security posts and held discussions with security heads based in the district, reports said.
At least 15 persons including 11 security personnel died in the overnight clash while the rebels bombed many government offices. Chief district office of Palpa and some security men are still out of contact.
Life is gradually returning to normal in the district headquarters with telephone and transportation services resuming from today. Security forces cleared a huge number of explosives left behind by the Maoists after the attack, reports added.
Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has launched an investigation into human rights violations in the Tansen incident.
A four-member team led by commissioner member Dr Ram Dayal Rakesh left for the Palpa district headquarters today, according to the NHRC.
Tourist arrivals to Nepal went up by 14.6 percent in the month of January this year as compared to the same period last year.
The growth in tourist arrivals was supplemented by an increase of 31.8 percent in Indian visitors and 6.9 percent in non-Indians, the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) citing figures released by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation said on Thursday.
Business in the tourism sector came mostly from Asian markets in that month. The Bangladesh market continued to show high growth from among the SAARC countries with 83.4 percent growth, while huge increases were observed from other Asian segments like China and Singapore, which increased substantially by 162.5 percent and 135.4 percent respectively.
Similarly, Japan which has a market share of around 6 percent in the Nepalese tourist industry also grew by 16.4 percent while visitors from South Korea grew by 27.3 percent. The market share of the Asian market was 64 percent during the month where arrivals from Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand declined by 22.6 percent, 31.1 and 26.3 percent respectively.
Similarly, the European segment with its 17 percent overall market share declined by 15.9 percent in January while arrivals from Australia grew by 83.5 percent, Spanish 23.3 percent and Swedish by 2.9 percent, according to the ministry’s records.
However, major European markets showed negative trend with arrivals from UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands sliding by 14.8 percent, 12.6 percent, 24.5 percent and 48.7 respectively. The US market also went down by 11 percent.
The decline in visitors from these markets is mainly attributed to the withdrawal of ceasefire by the Maoists early last month and the travel advisories issued by some European governments.
The confidence of Indian visitors towards Nepal is still reflected in the arrivals in January, the NTB statement said. “The effective connectivity in the Indo-Nepal sector and sustained market promotion by the Nepalese travel trade and airlines along with NTB in India has helped maintain the growth from the market,” it claimed.
Before the Maoists’ attack:
Major landmarks in Tansen–considered to be one of the most beautiful towns in Nepal—remain charred and damaged following fierce Maoist attacks at the district headquarters of Palpa Tuesday night.
Built by Khadga Shamsher, Shitalpati square is octagonal in shape. A round house attached to its southern portion has been built now. The “Baggi Dhoka,” the biggest gate in Nepal, can be seen southward in the Shitalpati square, which is often called the ‘Pipal Ko Bot’ of Palpa Tansen. The architecture of the Gate reminds of the fort of Mughal Empire in India.
After the Maoists’ attack: courtesy: blog.com.np
Built in 1927 AD by Pratap Shamsher Jung Bahadur Rana, the durbar is a grand imposing palace in the heart of the town. Once the seat of the Rana governors, the Durbar is now the district secretariat of Palpa district.
The second storey of the palace in the Gaddi Baithak throne hall housed some important pieces of Palpa’s history, including the throne and ceremonial sword. A ceremony used to be organized every year at this site to mark the beginning of the spring season.
Before the Maoists’ attack: courtesy: blog.com.np
After the Maoists’ attack courtesy: blog.com.np
(All photos Before the Attack in Palpa, Courtesy: Dr. Alok Bohara)
Responding to a call from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal, the CPN (Maoist) has said that it does not have policy to take physical actions against political workers and election candidates but insisted that its “resistance” against opponents is part of the regular job.
“Our party’s attention has been seriously drawn over the statement issued by the OHCHR,” Maoist spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara said in a statement Thursday, adding, “In this context, our party makes clear that we do not have a policy to target innocent persons, political workers or election candidates.”
The Maoist spokesman didn’t say anything categorically that the attacks on election candidates and other unarmed persons would come to an end.
Actions against adversaries were the continuation of the regular activities of the party, he insisted.
Mahara further said his party was ready to investigate the cases of victimization of innocent people and informed that some of the cases were being investigated.
Head of OHCHR Nepal, Ian Martin, had in a statement early this week sought clarification over their earlier commitment not to target political activists and other unarmed persons. His statement came in the wake of series of physical attacks and life threats issued by the Maoists to the candidates of the February 8 elections.
At least two persons were killed and an elected ward chairman of Biratnagar municipality, Triveni Majhi, has been wounded seriously in latest election-related violence in the eastern region on Thursday.
According to latest reports, Majhi– who was elected unopposed to the post of chairman of ward no. 15 of Biratnagar sub-metropolis—was shot at as he was residing at his residence at Janapath tole this evening.
He is undergoing treatment at the Kashi zonal hospital at Biratnagar.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack but police blame the Maoists for the attack.
Officials said security has been beefed up in the city following the incident.
A group of assailants fired indiscriminately at Majhi and people around him and fled immediately. Dipak Gurung, who had gone to congratulate Majhi for being elected to the post, died during the attacks.
In a separate incident, a group of people opened fire at a policeman, Indradev Yadav, who was standing guard at Itahari chowk in the eastern region this afternoon. Yadav is undergoing treatment at the BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences at Dharan.
According to security sources, a suspected Maoist rebel was shot dead at the nearby Bus Park after nearly half an hour by the security personnel who were pursuing the assailants.
Details are still awaited.