Voting opens as Nepal holds twin elections

KATHMANDU: Nepal’s general and provincial elections are underway with voters already heading to the polling stations to choose their representatives to the House of Representatives (HoR) and Provincial Assemblies.

The elected Members of the Parliament (MPs), in turn, will decide who will become the country’s next Prime Minister.

Voting will be held in a single phase from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm in all 77 districts of the country.

Meanwhile, voters are required to pass through checks in order to cast their ballots.

About 18 million Nepali citizens are eligible to vote for the 275-member HoR and the 550 members of seven provincial assemblies through a first-past-the-post and proportional representation (PR) system.

They are required to provide their identification such as a voter’s card or a citizenship card.

Likewise, 22,227 polling stations in 10,892 polling centers have been established for the election.

Arrangements have been made to give priority to senior citizens, people with disabilities and the pregnant for voting.

This is the second election of the House of Representatives and the Provincial Assembly after the country adopted the Federal form of governance.

Meanwhile, security personnel have been mobilized to prevent any untoward activities that could imperil the electoral process and affect the fairness of the election such as boycotting the election and impending election, booth-capturing, depriving voters of voting rights, threatening, intimidating the voters among others.

Three-tier security arrangement is put in place in every polling center for election security.

A ‘reserve force’ is in place which could reach the site within 30 minutes to deal with untoward activities, the Election Commission said.

Meanwhile, at the invitation of the EC, a team of the body to manage elections including chief election commissioners of neighboring India, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Maldives and election commissioners of Sri Lanka and South Korea is observing the voting.

Similarly, representatives from 18 diplomatic missions in Nepal are also observing the election.

As many as 7,219 persons from 44 national and 12 from two international organizations are observing the elections to help enhance the credibility of the election.

The observers will supervise the elections in 165 constituencies of the House of Representatives and 330 constituencies of the Provincial Assembly.