The Election Commission extends nomination deadline by five days
The Election Commission today postponed the nominations deadline following the government’s request to do so. The cabinet wrote the letter after top leaders of the seven parties agreed to push the nomination deadline by five days. Top leaders of seven parties met at Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s official residence at Baluwatar today morning and a joint request letter was signed by all the leaders urging the commission to postpone the nominations deadline by five days. Now, for proportional electoral system, the parties can file a closed list of their candidates by 18 Ashwin (5 October). As per earlier schedule, today was the last day for filing the nominations. Similarly, the deadline for submission of a closed list of candidates for the first-past-the-post system has been extended to 21 Ashwin (8 October)
Responding to the request letter by the seven parties, Election Commissioner Bhojraj Pokhrel said that considering the current political scenario and to hold ongoing peace process move ahead smoothly, the EC has decided to extend the deadline for submission of the nominations.
Meanwhile, the Maoists are holding informal meeting of their central committee to discuss on the issue of proportional voting system, one of their two key demands that wasn’t agreed by other parties in the alliance, mainly the Prime Minister’s Nepali Congress. The Maoists had asked five days time with other parties to discuss about the possible alternatives of their demands of fully proportional system inside their party.
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15 responses to “Election Update: Commission Extends Nomination Deadline”
Proportional Electoral System. First-Past-The-Post System.
This is getting complicated by day.
I argued in this blog for election system by which 100,000 people will elect 1 representative for the House. I also argued for the fair representation of ethnic groups Magar, Tharu, Tamang, Newar, Rai, Gurung, Limbu, Sherpa and others by constituting the election wards by ethnicity rather than by geography.
The way it’s going on now there will be no election for now. Political parties need to come together and cancel the CA Election for good. Just appoint few more members from different agitating groups in the current interim legislative body and call it Constituent Assembly.
Even if the election is held these vary people will be elected any way. They will be back either by direct election or by nomination. So why waste money and blood in the fruitless excersise?
In case of Maoists, they are in pretty good shape now with 84 members in the legislative body. Since Madhesis and Pahades are rising Maoists will be lucky to win 10 seats.
The Maoists will not accept a compromise on proportional representation. If they do they are finished. They need this to regain legitimacy in the Terai. The PM knows this, and thats why he is not granting it.
Time is a non-issue. Both of the systems are already on the ballots. All the EC needs to do is eliminate one.
Looks like child’s play, making rules as you go…
“regain legitimacy” implies they had legitimacy before which certainly was not the case. This drama is turning into a big farce– none of the eight or seven parties are sincere about elections. The terrorists now have proportionate representation demand– if that is fulfilled they will come up with another one for sure. ALl they are doing is adding to the uncertainty this nation is unnecessarily facing at the hands of the corrupt ones and the terrorists. The terrorists are hell bent on not having the CA in the first place. None of the other parties have shown any eagerness either to carry out any kind of CA campaign. They are all waiting for more chaos so that the current situation can be prolonged– and the Maoists are part of the game. What is ironic is that the proponents of the last year’s April revolution projected the “revolution” to be against “anti-status quoists”. It is a pity to see that the same people have converted into status quoists themselves. In the process, the people of this country are having to pay the price.
How about not allowing other candidates to file their nominations?? If cabinet can ask anything and EC has to do accordingly, why not declare other than 8(7) parties not eligible to contest? What is the relevance of EC and it’s deadlines when one party can move the deadlines as per their wish? They are making mockery of the whole election process and now I believe if the election does take place will be a ‘Drama’. Maoists are trying to illude people by mocking the elections. They are trying to intimidate people to submit to their demands and if they don’t they are threating to derail the peace(??) process. What is the significance of these kind of Fake elections when the winners and loosers are decided in the close doors and yet they are making fun of the local administration election held by Gyanendra. The SPAs are just following Gyanendra model for CA election(irony is in the name of abdicating him).
And seriousely Neil, time is the only issue here,otherwise maoists demands can be considered, if you can go on deffering the polls in the name of demand after demand I don’t see any need of elections at all!! What is the credibilty of the EC and the government and why should people would believe them when they announce another date for election, really bullshit!!
Next time when you hear something about CA elections people will laugh as somebody makin a bad joke, they really are making mockery of election process and and not to mention of the word “democracy”!!
The deadline can be extendy by another 6 months and still the maoists will not take part in the elections. They know their time is up, and if they face the elections they will be wiped out. The maoists are just looking for plain excuse to use the guns again. They are not interested in elections.
How about not allowing other candidates from filing their nominations?? If govt can ask anything and EC has to do accordingly, why not declaring all other parties other than 8(7) parties not eligible for contesting the poll? What is the relevance of EC and their deadlines when they can be moved as per the wish of some particular parties? They are making mockery of whole election process and now I believe elections in these circumstances would definitely be a “drama”. Maoists are illuding people by making CA elections meaningless . In fact they are following the Gyanendra model of LA election for CA elections(irony is in the name of abdicating mentor himself).
And seriousely Neil, TIME is the only issue here, maoists demand can infact be considered if we have the luxury of time. What would be the credibility of the govt and EC if they keep on defferring the election in the name of demands after demands. Do we really need the elections at all if everything would be decided behind close doors? They really are making mockery of one of the most democratic practice but the effect is detrimental as more and more people are aware of maoists propoganda, and the more time lapses more difficult for them to regain whatever little support base they have now!! And I wonder being thoughtful Maoist sympathizer, why you are persuading them to climb the tree from back, Comrade Neil, hmmm………, American conspiracy??
5 day , 5 day, they will keep on adding untill the king or the army take over once again or untill whole nation goes on war just like it already there in terai.
Ok, once again. Very simple here so everyone can understand it.
The Maoists made the demand for proportional representation LAST YEAR In December. They gave up that demand and joined the government ON THE CONDITION that the elections be held in June of this year.
The elections were NOT held in June of this year.
The Maoists reasserted their demands within a month of the date passing.
QED.
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You can talk all the little circles you want, the issue is still the issue above and it is the only relevant issue. Rules for proportional representation are already written and implemented by the EC. Time is a complete Non-issue. If the electoral commission were asked to have Proportional Representation in by tomorrow, for instance, they could do it.
If the Maoists do not get this demand back, they will most likely declare the last year to be a failed experiment and pursue option B. These are the two likely alternatives that the government is faced with. They exist independent of whether I (or you, or anybody) like them and of what you call me for pointing them out.
Brilliant, then why they didnot initiate a ‘Revolution’ then when elections were defferred?? And why did they agree on November 22( as far as I know the date suggested by moaists themselves to GPK)?? And you must be stupid to believe that time is non issue when your entire credibilty is on stake.If elections would be defferred again believe me SPAs are done and out.There are still other forces in Nepal waiting for the opportunities and that would be not less ideal one to bounce back!! Or, is that what they are conspiring, hmmm……
The fact of the matter is, things went completely wrong and the nightmare of loosing the election irrespective whether it is Proportional Representation or the normal one hauting them badly.The eleventh hour decision to withdraw from the government and DISRUPT the CA election.They are not even sure without them other parties will not hold the election so they said they will foil it. They are damn sure that they loose and loose completely(their calculation might come right for the first time) and then how would you justify thousands of lives they have ‘sacrificed’,billions of properties they have destroyed. When their claims of public support would come out as flat lies how would Mr Prachanda get an excuse infront of ‘thousands’ of illiterate cadres??
And on more serious note: I am still unaware of the fact how this PR stuff will help maoists gain more seats and how exactly it will work, would anybody mind describing??
It is the decision of the election commission. If they feel that the elections cannot be held in the previous scheduled date then they must have some base in saying so and they should show the right proof for that too. They are the technical persons in this. The maoists should not just oppose to this decision. They should also look into all the other circumstances such as the situation of the country and other things as well.
Let’s hope the Elections are held and Nepal goes into the right track and hence into development.
Amen.
Just another topic for the political parties to fight for.
Let’s c who plays and what kind of game.
This will take Nepal nowhere.
Some solid decisions has to be made.
Its not a child’s play.
Its the country future at stake.
By “time is a Non-issue” I mean the elections need not be delayed to change to fully proportional. The proportional rules are already drafted and included as part of the mixed system.
The Maoists are not trying to defer the date. They want the elections as soon as possible. In fact, they wanted the elections three months ago. The Maoists need the proportional representation issue back. Republic before the election was a bargaining chip, as I predicted last month.
Oh really?? Then why EC thinks otherwise?? Are we talking about the elections in nepal or elsewhere??
http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2007/oct/oct01/news01.php
They rightly think changing an electoral process at the eleventh hour is not less than a herculean task. Even if all the IELTS teachers, esp from American backgrounds work voluntarily for EC to amend the process would still be a far far cry. I wonder if you have any idea about what a real PR electoral process would looklike and how it all works. Rather it sounds just following maoists bandwagon as it must be done because they said so, otherwise option B, right??
What a defeatist mentality, what a pathetic attitude!!
This is nothing but ploy for ” Bahun Bahun Miler Khaun Naya Nepal” This so called SPAM is nothing by mafia who is ruining the country in Name of Naya Nepal. Ture democracy will come but first we must eliminate these so called SPA & M terrorists. Otherwise we will have Pol Pote Naya Nepal.