The government and the political parties need to sort out the disputes about the date for holding the second phase of local election at the earliest

There was huge enthusiasm of people and candidates of various political parties while filing nominations for the local level election in Province number 3, 4 and 6 where the election will be held on May 14. Thousands of people affiliated to various political parties rallied behind their candidates with their respective party flags and thronged the nomination filing centres. Reports pouring in from these provinces said the filing of nominations went peacefully, without any hassles, due to proper security arrangements. Major political parties and independent candidates fielded nominations for the local level election being held after a gap of almost 20 years. The last local bodies’ election was held in 1997 and then after the local units had been run either by government officials or, in later days, by an all-party mechanism that failed to deliver services to the people and carry our any development works. The way the political parties and their supporters assembled with traditional musical instruments at the nomination filing centres shows how eager the people are about the local level election, which will also open the door for provincial and parliamentary elections which needs to be held by January 22, 2018.

According to the Election Commission, first round of local level election is being held in 283 local level units – four metropolitan cities, one sub-metropolitan city, 92 municipalities and 186 rural municipalities – in three provinces  (34 districts). There will be 123 Wards in four metropolitan cities, 19 Wards in one sub-metropolitan city, 1,091 in 92 municipalities and 1,365 in 186 rural municipalities. A total of 6,642 polling stations have been set up to hold election of the local level units which have been divided into 2,598 Wards. The EC has said that a total of 4,956,925 eligible voters will be taking part in the local level election. According to the legal provision, political parties are required to field 50 percent women candidates either for the post of chiefs or deputy chiefs of the local level units. The parties are also required to field at least one Dalit and one woman candidate for the post of Ward members who will also represent in the District Coordination Committee to be formed after the local level election.

All political parties and independent candidates, except the newly formed Rastriya Janata Party - Nepal, are in the election fray. All the political parties have also made public their election manifestos with promises galore to elevate the country towards a middle income country within a decade to come. What are the commonalities of the manifestos of all political parties is that they want to lead the country towards prosperity with grandiose plans which hardly get implemented after they come to power. Moreover, as the first phase of the local election is underway, the government and the political parties need to sort out the disputes about holding the second phase of local election either on June 14 or before May 29 when fiscal budget has to be presented, and counting ballot papers of the first phase of election before or after holding the second phase of the local election. These crucial issues must be settled at the earliest.

Reproductive rights

Over the years provisions of the constitution and various laws have been changed to ensure women’s rights in all areas. There may still be some room for improvement on certain points. But on the whole Nepalese women enjoy no less rights than the women of most other countries, and definitely better than in South Asia, for example, in women’s representation in jobs and elective posts from the local level to the federal parliament. But in practice, for various reasons, most women have not been able to take full advantage of many of these rights. It is because they cannot speak out from fear; they are bound by tradition, and dominated by their husbands.

This applies to women’s reproductive rights guaranteed by the law under which they have the exclusive right whether to have abortion or not. But this is often decided by their husbands, whether women may agree or not. But when it comes to the consequences of abortions, such as infertility, women tend to be blamed by their husbands and their families too and neglected or, in some cases, abandoned. Gynecologists say that most women who come to them for abortions do so under pressure from their husbands. Therefore, something more needs to be done to enforce women’s reproductive health rights.