Ishwari Bhattarai  & Kiran Dahal It is impossible to understate the significance of a parliament in democratic…

Democracy Resource Center Nepal (DRCN) observed Nepal’s House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly elections held on November 20, 2022. It mobilized 118 observers (60 women, 57 men, and 1 transgender) in 46 districts across all seven provinces. They observed the pre-election environment, polling process, and post-election activities.

Democracy Resource Center Nepal has prepared this preliminary report based on the observation by 70 observers at 54 local levels across seven provinces. This report covers pre-election activities, the voting process, and post-election activities.

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.

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.

On September 18, 2017, the third and final phase of local elections was held in Province 2 consisting of eight Tarai districts. Voters in newly formed local units turned out in impressive numbers to elect new representatives. Democracy Resource Center Nepal (DRCN) conducted long-term and short-term observations of these elections to provide a critical and independent assessment of the electoral and political processes around the elections. This preliminary statement outlines findings and makes recommendations based on DRCN’s observation before, during, and after the third phase of local elections.

There were six election-related incidents recorded between September 29 and October 21, a period before the nomination day for first past the post (FPTP) candidates of the first phase of national and provincial elections.