Kathmandu, April 11:

The Socialist International (SI) today said yesterday’s Constituent Assembly election in Nepal was held in a free, fair and democratic manner despite a few cases of violence in the run-up to the election.

“Everyone, with no exception, played their parts responsibly. This is good news for Nepal and all those who are supporting democratic process in the country,” secretary general of the Socialist International Luis Ayala told the media today.

The SI is the global organisation, which has 159 social democrat, socialist and labour parties across the world as its members. Among them 61 parties are in government in various countries. The SI’s election observation team said it was “very positively impressed” with the election in Nepal.

The Socialist International has experience of observing elections in scores of the countries, including those in post-conflict period.

Referring to SI delegation’s observation in many polling stations in Kathmandu, Ayala said the SI team was particularly impressed with the election officers for holding the difficult mixed election in such a professional and technically correct way. The SI delegation also said that Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal and Maoist chairman Prachanda have expressed commitment to continue with the coalition government and the democratic values.

The other members of the delegation that arrived in Nepal on April 7 are leader of Pan Hellenic Socialist Movement of Greece Paulina Lampsa, Thierry Aube of the French Socialist Party, Swedish lawmaker and leader of the Social Democrats Olle Thorell and National Convenor of the Socialist Front of India Vijay Pratap.