• CEC Yadav says the number of invalid votes could be higher this time

Kathmandu, May 17 Three organisations, which released their preliminary review of the first phase of civic polls, have highlighted the need for effective voter education, mainly targeting first-time and illiterate voters. This was stated in a  preliminary poll observation report prepared by General Election Observers Organisation, National Election Observer Organisation and Inclusive Women Alliance for Peace, Justice and Democracy (Sankalp). They, however, said the Election Commission was generally successful in conducting the elections barring a few obstructions and time constraints. Stating that many voters were not familiar with the large size of ballot papers, the three organisations said in their report that encouraging non-governmental organisations, media, professionals, academics and other relevant institutions to carry out voter education programmes would be an effective way of doing so. “The existing design of ballot paper should be reformed so that they are more voter-friendly in future elections,” the report stated, “Vote-counting exercise has been found to be tedious, complicated and time/resource-intensive. Alternative methods should be immediately adopted to ensure fast counting and results.” The report also said that special security arrangement should be put in place in security-sensitive areas for the upcoming second phase of polls. “There should be better arrangement and availability of facilities for women, and senior citizens in the polling centers from the perspective of security, ease and sensitivity,” the report stated. In order to address the weaknesses in the enforcement of the election code of conduct, political parties, candidates and party workers should mainly be made answerable, and the Election Commission should make the monitoring of the violation of the code more effective, the report added. The report stated the status of pre-poll management such as electoral rolls, staff management, party registration, code of conduct, printing of ballot papers and other logistics was satisfactory. However, there were some mistakes and weaknesses while preparing electoral rolls, monitoring of code of conduct and distribution of voter identity cards. “Due to time constraints and weakness in management, voter education could not be effective. Voters were in confusion about where and how to vote,” the report stated. Pregnant and nursing women, sick and disabled women suffered because of an inappropriate placing of polling centers, the report stated. Deployment of staff and volunteers were satisfactory. However, due to lack of training and uniformity, there was lack of coordination in some centres, the report stated. The joint report further stated that the three rings of security generated sense of security among voters. “Despite that, there were dozens of incidents of violence. Some people even lost their lives. There were dozens of incidents of vandalism, arson, explosion, abduction and clashes,” the report added. Addressing the interaction, Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhi Prasad Yadav said legal procedures were also one of the reasons why vote counting was slow in some places. “Election officers need to fulfil legal formalities. They also have to be mindful that the counting issues can be challenged in the court,” he added.  He said vote counting could be faster if provisions were made to count votes at each polling centre. Yadav said that the Election Commission would try to implement the observers’ recommendations in future as far as possible. He said the EC would try to make arrangements for pre-voting particularly for elder citizen, differently abled, sick voters and foreign country bound Nepali migrant labourers in the next general election. Yadav said ballot papers in some districts were overly large as the EC had to print them two months before the first phase of local polls. Yadav said the EC printed six types of ballot papers of varying sizes as per the input received from various districts on the possibility of the number of parties and independent candidates who could contest the first phase of local polls. Yadav admitted that the percentage of invalid votes could be higher this time.  “We are aware of how we should carry out voter education in the days ahead,” he said.