Periodic elections strengthen democracy and help carry out development works
Ending weeks of uncertainties, the government finally announced the date for holding the local level election in a single phase on May 13, the day when the five-year term of the local levels comes to an end. A cabinet decision held on Monday decided to hold the election as per the suggestions made earlier by the Election Commission (EC), which will have just 95 days from now to prepare for conducting the election for 753 local levels to elect around 36,000 representatives. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba took a bold decision to hold the local level election on time, ignoring the pressure from his coalition partners, mainly the CPN-Maoist Centre and CPN-Unified Socialist, who were insisting on delaying the local level election by six months, a proposal which, according to legal experts, was against the constitutional and legal provisions. With the announcement of the local level poll date, the EC has stopped collecting the voter-list from Tuesday as per the law. The EC has estimated that there will be around 15 million voters eligible for taking part in the local level election, around 1 million more voters than in the previous polls held in 2017. Polling booths will also be increased accordingly from the previously 18,573 booths set up during the last election.
The EC has estimated that, apart from the security arrangement, it would require at least Rs 12 billion to conduct the single phase election, Rs 4 billion up from the last local level election. In 2017, the local level polls were held in three phases – May 14, June 28 and September 18 – for 6 metropolitan cities, 11 sub-metropolitan cities, 276 municipalities and 460 rural municipalities.
The EC officials have said it would cut costs when the election is held in a single phase, but it would be challenging to conduct the polls as the EC would need to deploy a large number of security personnel at all the polling centres and make arrangements for the returning officials in one go. The EC also has to prepare calendars of events for more than 50 activities within short notice. As the poll date has been fixed well within the deadline, the government does not need to amend the Local Election Act-2073, which clearly states that it cannot remain in a vacuum even for a single day.
Periodic elections strengthen democracy and help carry out administrative and development works smoothly at the grassroots levels. Earlier, the local bodies' election could not be held for 15 years since their elections were held in 2002, and they were run by government officials and an all-party mechanism since 2007 when the interim constitution came into force. Both of them had failed to deliver services to the people at the grassroots level. With the local level poll date fixed, all the political parties will go to the people with their political and development agenda.
Unlike the previous local bodies, the local levels along the federal line are more powerful, independent and functional, and they have also ushered in development activities as per the needs of the local people though corruption has been rife due to lack of efficient human resources and effective monitoring from the centre. However, all should adhere to the health protocols while canvassing during the polls in view of the rising cases of coronavirus infection.
Split CAAN
Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale called on the European Union the other day to remove Nepal from the EU Air Safety List, citing much progress has been made on the air safety front. This is not the first time he has made such a request, but one that is unlikely to be heeded unless the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) is split into two bodies – regulator and service provider, dual functions that it has been carrying out till date. It has been more than eight years since the European Union imposed a ban on all airlines from Nepal from flying into its territory for failure to adhere to safety standards, following a series of air accidents in the country.
In August last year, the Upper House of Parliament had passed two bills which allow CAAN to be split into two entities to regulate the aviation sector and to provide air service. However, due to obstruction in the parliament, they have yet to be passed by the Lower House to become law. It would thus be in the interest of Nepal to pass them as the earliest, so that the EU's ban on Nepali airlines is lifted, and Nepal Airlines can once again start flying to major European cities as in the past.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 9, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
