Poll Preparations Intensify

Recent activities of the government, the Election Commission (EC), and other stakeholders have heated up the election environment across the country, ending all speculation about whether the House of Representatives (HoR) elections scheduled for March 5 will be held. All political parties, including the CPN-UML, are well prepared for the elections by submitting the closed lists of their candidates to be elected under the proportionate representation (PR) category and picking candidates to contest the elections under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system. 

Of the 275 members of the HoR, 110 are elected under the PR category and 165 through the FPTP system.  Likewise, the EC has made all preparations to hold the elections within the stipulated timeframe. It is now working to enforce the election code of conduct, while the police force has already initiated the process to recruit election police.  

The code of conduct will probably come into effect from the third week of this month, and the state stakeholders, including the political parties, should abide by it to ensure the polls are conducted in a free and fair manner. On the one hand, the code of conduct does not allow them to engage in provocative activities, which could affect the election results; on the other hand, it creates grounds for credible elections. The code helps create a peaceful environment so that the legitimate voters can exercise their franchise without fear. It prevents the political parties and their candidates from resorting to illegal activities to influence the voters.   

The role of the government is, no doubt, to facilitate the EC to complete the election process. Moreover, the main goal of the present government, formed after the Gen Z movement in September last year, is to hold the elections to the HoR within six months, and it has left no stone unturned to accomplish the task.   Prime Minister Sushila Karki, the other day, showed concerns about the preparations being made by the EC to hold the elections. She held a consultative meeting with the EC officials along with her cabinet ministers. According to a news report published by this daily the other day, the meeting focused on the election code of conduct. 

The EC officials have also briefed the media on the updated progress. According to them, the EC has started printing sample ballots to promote voter education for the upcoming elections. Of these, half a million ballots were printed for the PR election system, and the remaining half a million for the FPTP category. The EC has also started printing real ballots for the PR election system. According to EC, the ballot for the PR election system includes 58 symbols from the 64 parties that submitted closed lists. Approximately 20 million ballots for the PR system will be printed based on the number of voters.

Likewise, the EC has appointed Chief Election Officers and Returning Officers in all 77 districts. The newly appointed officials will be deployed in the concerned polling stations from January 16. Similarly, the EC officials have held dialogues with representatives from social media operating companies such as Meta and TikTok to discuss ways to prevent fake news, false accusations, and hate speech that could affect the election. 

Similarly, the EC has issued letters to TikTok, X, and Meta this week regarding potential security issues on social media. The EC has also launched its Social Media Monitoring Tool to prevent the spread of false information and fake news during the election. All these activities show that significant progress has been made toward holding the polls on the scheduled date.