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Poll campaign ends in Nepal

KATHMANDU: Political parties in Nepal ended their formal campaign at midnight on Monday, 48 hours before the historic Constituent Assembly elections slated for April 10.

The Election Commission said it had completed all preparations, including postings of officials and transportation of the ballot papers and other poll related materials.

Most of the international observers have already made it to the field. The former U.S. President, Jimmy Carter, who is among the international bigwigs observing the Nepal polls, arrived here on Monday afternoon.

Despite all these preparations and mobilisation of over 100,000 security personnel, concerns remain on the security front.

There have been over 200 poll-related clashes in the last one month involving the Maoists, NC and the UML. The NC has filed 92 cases of attacks by the Maoists in the election commission and the UML has filed 96 cases. The Maoists have made a counter-claim of 59 attacks by the NC and UML against their cadres.

Even on Monday, Maoist cadres clashed with the supporters of other political parties in more than a dozen of places. Theses clashes have occurred despite public agreements and statements by the top leaders.

Last week, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, Maoist Chairman Prachanda and UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal signed a 10-point agreement expressing commitments to ensure that the election campaign would conclude peacefully.

Mr. Prachanda and Mr. Nepal even addressed a joint press conference in the capital on Monday to calm their cadres. But such agreements have hardly reflected at the grass roots level.

There are also growing complaints of the Maoists combatants coming out the United Nations-monitored cantonments and interfering with the poll campaign violating the provisions of the peace agreement.

According to the tripartite agreement between the U.N., Maoists and the government, the state army and the Maoists army cannot leave the cantonments during the elections. The chief of the U.N. Mission in Nepal, Ian Martin, addressing a press conference in Pokhara on Monday cautioned the Maoists that the polls would not be credible — even unacceptable — in the eyes of the international community if the Maoists combatants interfered with the elections.

On Monday, explosions occurred in Kathmandu, Birjung and Sunsari, compounding voters’ fear.

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