KATHMANDU, July 18: The number of national and international election observer organizations is likely to be drastically reduced for the Constituent Assembly (CA) election scheduled for November 19 as the Election Commission (EC) has added new criteria for poll observers in a bid to raise the quality of the observations.
"The number of national and international election observer organizations can be reduced compared to during the last CA poll but the quality of observation will improve,” Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety told Republica. [break]
The constitutional body on Wednesday held discussions with representatives of five international and 22 national election observer organizations in order to gauge their opinions on the proposed new policy. These organisations had sent from 400 to 12,000 observers for the last CA poll.
The chief election commissioner said that the EC has effected improvements in the previous election observation policy, directives and code of conduct with a view to maintaining the quality of poll observations.
“Although 148 organizations had observed the last CA poll, they were not as per our expectations,” Uprety said, “They went beyond our control and we could neither give them the necessary facilities nor test the quality of their observations.”
According to EC officials, only 29 out of 148 election observer organizations had submitted before the EC periodic and final reports on their observations of the 2008 poll.
The chief election commissioner made it clear that the constitutional body would not allow in those election observer organizations that did not submit their periodic and final reports in the last CA poll as sought by the EC.
“Election observation should not be like tourism,” said Uprety, adding, “It should enhance quality in the true sense as quality observation is a must for quality elections.”
According to him, a new election observer should have a bachelor´s degree while an experienced observer should have passed the intermediate level. Such academic qualifications were not mandatory for the last CA election, he stated.
Besides the academic qualification, the election observers should also have taken necessary training for observations.
As per the proposed provision, the EC will not allow national observer organizations that are not registered at the district administration office.
Likewise, the EC will allow in national and international observer organizations that will be doing their observations in the Hill, Mountain as well as Terai regions. “The observer organizations should field their observers not only to convenient places but also to remote areas,” added the chief election commissioner.
Asked whether or not the EC would allow new election observer organizations to operate here, Uprety said organizations that meet the criteria set by the constitutional body would be allowed.
The chief election commissioner said that the EC will call on both national and international observer organizations to apply for observer status once the election observation policy, directive and code of conduct are endorsed.
“We will make announcements through newspapers and online to file applications to observe the upcoming CA election,” Uprety said, “They can apply via online also.”
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