Dr Tulsi Giri
(File photo)
The vice-chairman of the Council of Ministers, Dr Tulsi Giri, has termed the international response to the municipal polls as “narrow minded”.
Talking to journalists after a programme organised by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority to mark its anniversary in the capital on Friday, Dr Giri said, “That’s the narrow mindedness shown by them (international communities), adding, “We can term the elections they have conducted (in iraq and Afganistan) in the given situation hollow, not ours.”
Coming down heavily on “baseless comments of national and international forces” on low voter turnout in the municipal elections, he said it was an outcome of the political parties’ negative activities.
United States marked the polls as ‘a hollow attempt’ and called on the King to release political detainees and open dialogue with the political parties.
In its reaction, India questioned the credibility of the municipal elections.
Japan has also ‘deplored’ the way the elections were held “without a broad support” of the Nepali people.
The United Kingdom (UK) has marked the municipal elections as a meaningless exercise to resolve the political crisis of the country.
Dr Giri further said that parliamentary elections will be held in the same manner as the municipal polls.
Nearly 20 percent of the eligible 1.4 million voters took part in the municipal polls, which was actively boycotted by the seven opposition parties.
Commenting on the killing of one UML activist on the day of election on Wednesday, he said the government did not order forces to shoot but to use their maximum authority against those disrupting the elections.
“The Election Commission will call all political parties to take part in the elections and fix a time frame. The polls will, however, go ahead even if they do not participate in them,” Dr Giri said.
In the programme, Dr Giri called on government institutions, media and civil society to fight corruption and maintain the rule of law in the country.
He also said the government has not changed its stance on the Maoists. “They are terrorists. We cannot hold dialogue with them until they surrender their arms and stop terrorist activities,” he said. Dr Giri also said the recently-published interview of Maoist leader Prachanda was full of contradictions.
In his interview Prachanda has said that they are ready to abandon violence if the government creates conducive environment for it.