This election is a first major test for the government, the political parties, for the success of the Constitution, as well as for much that had gone before

The announcement of the elections for the third tier of governance in the country under the new Constitution gives real hope of the full implementation of the new Constitution that was promulgated sixteen months ago.

As this span of time is rather long, doubts had been increasing among the people over the holding of the elections itself, with the parties in government wasting precious time in the name of building a national political consensus, something which has not been reached as yet.

With pressure from various sides, including the major coalition partner, the Nepali Congress, and the main opposition CPN-UML, this announcement has been made possible.

Now that the government has taken the plunge and the Election Commission has already gone into election mode, all sections of society should do what they can to the complete success of the local level elections, and the government on its part must do what is necessary to ensure that the elections are held peacefully, fairly and impartially despite all the obstacles that may come in the way.

The government should still use all reasonable means to bring on board all those who have not been favourable to the idea of the elections on the grounds that their demands should be met first. But any hitches in these efforts should not prevent the polls from taking place on May 14.

The local level elections will mark a historic start in the process of giving the country the three tiers of government – federal, provincial and local. And all three tiers have executive, legislative and judicial bodies at their levels.

The Constitution has specified the tasks that the federal, provincial and local governments shall do. The country’s local government has been constitutionally guaranteed to be one of the most powerful local governments in the world – a feature which gives rise to vibrant grassroots democracy.

Indeed, unless the people at the grassroots can exercise sufficient powers themselves, democracy in a real sense cannot be said to be in full play. This is one of the beauties of the present Constitution, though it has its shortcomings.

The country will get elected local bodies after nineteen years – local elections were not held after the tenure of the last elected bodies expired nearly two decades ago.

With the local level elections, local governance can be expected to improve, as the people’s representatives can be held accountable and corruption there, which has increased much over the years, can be expected to be less.

This time, the country will elect over 34,000 representatives in 719 local level governments in which municipalities and village councils are included. The original number suggested by the commission concerned was 565, but to address the concerns of various political parties, the number was increased to 719.

Now the government, in the name of appeasing the Madhesi Morcha, is bent on increasing it even further in Province No. 2. This kind of ad hoc approach without a sound basis is counterproductive.

Nevertheless, holding the local level elections is a first major test for the government, the political parties, for the success of the Constitution, as well as for much that had gone before to bring about this political change.

Crying fowl

Over the years the poultry industry has been flourishing in the country. Most of the poultry farming is done by Nepali entrepreneurs most of whom have made handsome profits. However, these days investments are also being made by foreigners in this lucrative industry.

Domestic poultry entrepreneurs are therefore crying fowl, and they want to stop the foreign entrepreneurs from investing in this venture. Nepali poultry farmers argue that they could produce more if they were provided with the facilities provided to foreign entrepreneurs.

The domestic poultry farmers have a valid point. Moreover, this business could be conducted more efficiently by them. There are also worries that if foreigners were allowed to invest in the poultry farms, this would adversely affect the Nepali poultry farms.

As such, the government should address their concerns, as it is possible for Nepal to be self-sufficient in poultry products.

However, the poultry farmers also have to take high risks as epidemics could cause havoc requiring culling of the birds. Therefore, the government should be sensitive to the call of the Nepali poultry entrepreneurs.