A peaceful election with a shocking result

By Mohan Rai - assistant Information Officer MS Nepal

16. April 2008

I visited Kavre, a district close to the capital as part of a team of an internation observation mission assigned for the district.  

When we met the district leaders, journalists and human rights activists in the district the day before the elections they were a little worried about what the Maoists would do on election day. There is a river, Koshi, on the southern part of the district and the areas beyond the river is relatively remote and some of them inaccessible by road. Many people we met suggested us to observe in that area. I was not too cool about the whole thing. Who knows what the Maoist could come up with? After all it was the district that the Maoists used as base for carrying out its activities during the war. I had an uneasy, almost foreboding feeling about this district. 

On election day we visited relatively near and accessible Dapcha vdc to observe the opening of the elections. When we reached there at 6.55 a.m. the people  had already lined up. Everything seemed 'peaceful'. A man wanted to come near the place where the casting was done (to see who cast votes for whom). But the security people made him to go away and he was adamant about going away.

Then we headed for the areas beyond the Koshi river. It was quite a long drive, about 25 kilometers from the river along a graveled and at times too muddy, narrow road. We visited three centers there and in all these it seemed that things were fine and easy. We came down, had some beans and fish (from the river) and headed towards the northern part of the district and observed two more centers.  

Finally, we visited a centre close to the highway and observed till it closed. There were a crowd of people present to observe the closing. After the time was up, the locking up of ballot and the sealing of the unused ballots began. 'They are doing exactly as it should be done,' remarked one of my teammates, who had observed elections 11 times before this.

I met a friend of mine from the locality there. 'We too are amazed and happy that it happened peacefully and smoothly. But what is also true is that the Maoist seem to have got good votes in the district,' he said.  

The results

The poll results are so shocking that no amount of effort some of our analysts are putting now to show that it could have been anticipated makes it easy to accept. I had discussed the situation in Kavre with a friend of mine from there in Kathmandu. He is somewhat an analyst in political affairs. He had predicted that none of the four constituencies would be won by the Maoist. I visited him when I returned and preliminary results were being reported by the media. 'My analysis was wrong. Now I will make a new one (based on new and different presumption),' he said. Perhaps that the best way to comment on the post poll situation.  

It is almost unfortunate that the Maoists have secured so many of the seats. It is as if people are absolving them of all the bloodshed and violence they committed. But perhaps people are tired of the NC and UML and want changes and new rules and ways of doing things. And so they have decided to give the Maoists a chance. Good luck, comrades. But do not forget that you will have to go to the people in two years.