There is now little doubt that the second Constituent Assembly election will take place on November 19, right on schedule. But as yet, there is no telling how violent it will be. Signs are ominous.
A UML FPTP candidate has already been shot dead. Reports of clashes between cadres of different political parties continue to trickle in from around the country; even political cadres and police are clashing. Nepali Congress cadres fought the police in Naubise of Dhading on Friday over an alleged breach of election code of conduct. [break]
Also on the same day, the army defused a bomb in Siraha suspected to be planted to foil the election campaign of Maoist Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal. It seems Mohan Baidya’s CPN-Maoist is determined to follow through on its promise to actively disrupt poll campaigns of top political leaders. It had called for Siraha banda on Friday, the day Dahal was supposed to begin his poll campaign in earnest.
Right now it is hard to predict the extent to which CPN-Maoist will go to foil the November 19 vote, even though it has vowed not to use violence on the election date. Most troublingly, it has called for a 10-day banda in the lead up to November 19, which could invite violent clashes with the campaigning parties.
The government has prepared an ‘integrated security plan’ to ensure violence-free election. The army has already been mobilized to patrol electoral constituencies. To be fair, there is no way the government can ensure foolproof security in every corner of the country. Those determined to do mischief will invariably find a way. Yet some definite steps can be taken to minimize violence. The best way to do this is to continue to try to take the dissenting parties into confidence and work out some kind of a negotiated settlement.
Although this now appears to be a tall order, it is a chance worth taking. Besides security, the other problematic area has been the blatant violation of the election code of conduct. The extravagance witnessed in the election rallies of Bijaya Kumar Gachachadar and Sher Bahadur Deuba suggests they don’t give a hoot about any election code.
It is the responsibility of the major political forces to ensure that the election takes place in the right atmosphere. The government has to put in place a robust security mechanism, no doubt. But the best security mechanism won’t do any good if the parties taking part in election start spoiling the election atmosphere themselves. CPN-Maoist and other poll opposing forces would also be advised to act wise. They might indeed have genuine concerns and they have every right to peacefully oppose election.
But they would be mistaken to believe (as they have been claiming) that the majority of Nepalis are against the CA vote. They are not. Yes, a large section is bitterly disappointed at the pathetic showing of their chosen representatives in the last Constituent Assembly, yet they realize that there is no alternative to yet again choosing the most democratic and peaceful way out of the current crisis, which is the CA II election.
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