Kathmandu, April 4:

Chief Election Commissioner Bhoj Raj Pokharel today urged the international observers to avoid reaching any hasty conclusion that might give wrong messages to the world about the April 10 election to the constituent assembly.

Addressing observers of the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL), he said: “I ask you not to be influenced by isolated individual events and not focus your reporting on these incidents only. Please avoid hasty conclusions which may give wrong messages.”

He also said that involvement of observers in large numbers would provide credibility to the country’s historic election.

“I would like to reiterate our policy which is aimed at engaging a maximum number of national and international observers so that they can observe the election as far and wide in the country as possible,” he said.

At the same time, he also requested the international observers not to overlap observation activities among themselves and ensure the widest coverage possible.

General Saiyud Kerdphol, the leader of the delegation of observers from ANFREL, said that the international team will have a lot to learn from Nepal and the lessons learned from Nepal would be useful for the whole region.

Nick Langton, director of The Asia Foundation, said that the election is going to take place amid major and minor unrest, but it is extremely important for Nepal. “If the election succeeds, it will change the legal framework of the country and if it fails, it will leave a big political vacuum,” he said.

He also said that the violence and unrest are taking place because most of the political

parties as well as the public are taking the election to the constituent assembly as any other parliamentary election.

Surya Prasad Shrestha, the chairman of National Election Observation Committee, said

that the Constituent Assembly election is directly related to the sovereignty of the country and is going to make the peace process complete.

Introduction of the proportional representation system in the election is one of the important features of the Constituent Assembly polls because only through this system the CA is going to represent the heterogeneous structure of the country, Shrestha said.

A group of 100 international long-term and short-term observers, mainly from Asian countries, have arrived in the capital.

A number of experts briefed the observers about the political history of Nepal and election to the observers. The briefing seminar will conclude tomorrow.