Kathmandu, November 19

An additional group of 20 election observers from the European Union Election Observation Mission to Nepal will arrive in Kathmandu tomorrow to observe the elections on  November 26 and December 7.

After a two-day briefing, the 20 observers — known as short-term observers — will be deployed to districts where the first phase of elections is taking place.

Along with EU long-term observers, who arrived in Nepal nearly three weeks ago, they will observe the opening of polling centres, voting on election day, the closing of polling centres and the subsequent transportation of election materials to district offices, stated a press release issued by European Union.

“The 20 short-term observers will then move to other districts for the second phase of elections, when 24 short-term observers will join the mission. EU observers will be present for the counting of ballots in all districts. The European Union Election Observation Mission is led by Chief Observer Željana Zovko, a member of the European Parliament from Croatia,” it reads.

The mission comprises a core team of 10 analysts, who arrived in Nepal on 25 October; 38 long-term observers; 44 short-term observers; a delegation of seven members of the European Parliament, as well as diplomats from European embassies in Nepal. This will bring the total number of EU observers over the two phases of the election to more than 100, making it the largest international observer mission.

“The work of the short-term observers, that of the long- term observers, as well as that of the core team in Kathmandu will allow the EU EOM to make an independent and impartial assessment of the whole electoral process,” said Chief Observer Željana Zovko.