The political parties boycotted the interaction programme with Chief Election Commissioner Keshav Raj Rajbhandari in Janakpurdham on Monday. The EC chief has been touring towns before announcing a poll date for the municipal elections promised for this calendar year. The parties that showed up were the ones which had supported the royal takeover of February 1. Rajbhandari said preparations for the polls have reached a final stage, claiming that there would be no security problems. He urged the political parties to take part in the polls. But the seven parties, which commanded 95 per cent seats in the dissolved House of Representatives, have already announced their boycott on several grounds, including questions concerning the security situation, legitimacy of the present government, their serious doubts about the royal motives, and their fears of rigging. In principle, every political party with a faith in democracy is expected to face elections. But sidelined by the government for almost three years and facing serious curbs on their democratic freedom, such as the constitutional right to assemble peaceably and without arms, the parties do not trust at all that the royal government intends to restore democracy in the letter and spirit of the 1990 Constitution.

The seven-party boycott will turn the elections into a farce at home and abroad, apart from other issues relating to free and fair polls and the apparent risks of rigging by those in power. If the candidates and the political parties cannot campaign freely and if the voters cannot cast their vote in an atmosphere free from fear, the election outcome will not represent the will of the people, also importantly reflected in the level of voter turnout. But the municipal polls, which account for around 10 per cent of the population, are not the most important, and holding them does not mean that the general elections and the elections to some 4,000 VDCs and 75 DDCs will be held anytime soon, too. Even previous governments could have held the municipal polls alone. It will not resolve problems. For this, the government should start taking concrete steps towards mending fences with the political parties, which are constitutionally the only legitimate claimants to power.