There was a significant increase in the number of political incidents between February 8 and March 22, 2018. 73 political incidents were recorded during this period compared to 32 during the previous reporting period between January 8 and February 7, 2018. The increase in incidents during this period can be attributed to the increased activities of unidentified groups and the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN).

There were 32 political incidents recorded between January 8 and February 7, 2018. 29 incidents were related to protests over the location of provincial capitals, in at least four of those incidents the protesters clashed with police resulting into multiple injuries. Two incidents involved demonstrations against moving local level centers and one incident entailed a protest against the language used by provincial assembly members during the first province assembly meeting in Province 2.

There were 47 political incidents recorded between December 8 and January 7, 2017, the one-month period after the completion of the second phase of parliamentary and provincial elections. Of all the incidents recorded during this period, 20 were related to the parliamentary and provincial elections.

The first House of Representatives (HoR) elections under the new Constitution and the first-ever elections…

The Factsheet includes a summary of violence and contestation during the campaign silence period and election day from December 5 to 7, 2017 around Nepal’s second phase of House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly elections.

Of all the incidents recorded during this period: 50 incidents were related to unidentified groups and improvised explosive devices (IEDs); eight incidents involved the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN); two incidents entailed inter-party disputes; one incident involved a clash between political party cadres and police; two incidents concerned persons being arrested with explosive devices; one incident entailed a polling officer being arrested with 50 illegally cast votes.

The increase in incidents can be attributed to the high levels of campaign activities by major political parties, unidentified groups increasing physical attacks on candidates, and security forces increasing preemptive arrests of Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) cadres to prevent potential anti-election activities.

One major feature of the new constitution promulgated in September 2015 was the restructuring of Nepal’s local government, including the devolution of power to newly created provinces and local units. After much deliberations and contestations, the constitutionally mandated Local Level Restructuring Commission finalized 743 local units. On February 20, 2017, the Government of Nepal announced the local elections for May 14, 2017, which were later broken into three phases due to political reasons. The first phase elections in provinces without Tarai districts (Provinces 3, 4, and 6) were held on May 14, and the second phase elections in the rest of the provinces except province 2 were held on June 28. The province 2 elections across eight Tarai districts were held on September 18. Democracy Resource Center Nepal (DRCN) observed all three phases of the local elections conducted for the first time in nearly twenty years, and the first one under the new constitution and new local structures.