Electoral reform is a vital process. It is crucial to get the most important exercise in democracy right: no stone should be left unturned to achieve free and fair election results. Nepal has seen plenty of electoral reforms in recent times.
During the last Constituent Assembly election, the people of Nepal for the very first time voted under the Proportional Representation electoral system, to go along with the First-Past-The-Post system they were familiar with.[break]
In a diverse country like Nepal where a major section of the population felt marginalized and disenfranchised for generations, the PR list ensured that the elected assembly would offer a more level playing field. As a result, the Nepali CA-cum-parliament became one of the most diverse and representative legislatures in the world.
It is a tragedy that the Election Commission’s proposal to bar tainted candidates from running for the upcoming election had to be brushed aside for political reasons. But we hope the raucous debate on the issue this time and the broad public support for the measure will eventually bear fruit and candidates with checkered records are prevented from running for public office in future elections.
Another notable omission from the ballot papers in Nepal is the ‘right to reject’ option. Only last month, the Indian Supreme Court ordered the Election Commission of India to phase in this provision in upcoming elections. The court rightly believed giving people the option to reject candidates will make political parties field only the candidates with clean image.
This provision, we believe, is especially important in countries like India and Nepal where money and muscle often rule the roost in election. Perhaps this is the reason that hot on the heels of the decision of the Indian Supreme Court, the apex court of Nepal has ordered the Nepali Election Commission to furnish a clarification on why the ballot papers for upcoming CA vote have no ‘right to reject’ option.
We also believe that the inclusion of this provision will be healthy for the democratic process in Nepal and it needs to be adopted in due course. But the demand of the petitioners that Election Commission be asked to reprint all ballot papers to include this provision is misplaced. The EC is already way behind schedule and reprinting millions of ballot papers would unnecessarily burden the EC at this last hour.
Another desirable reform would be introduction of electronic voting machines. Not only have these machines been found to significantly cut down on waste votes and fraud during the voting process, they also expedite tallying of votes and announcement of final results. Finally, the major political parties and the Election Commission, in a breathtaking dereliction of duty, have failed to ensure that the voter ID cards were printed on time for November 19 election.
The ease with which such a serious matter has been taken as fait accompli is a matter of concern. It seems a sizable section of the political class still believes that reform of the electoral process would be inimical to their interest. But it is precisely these politicians who have something to hide that the reforms are meant to keep out of election fray.
The electoral reform process in Nepal still has a long-long way to go. But as the Supreme Court’s verdict on Monday indicates, slowly but surely, we are getting there.
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