Empowering Voters

Chief Election Commissioner Bhoj Raj Pokharel has emphasised on the need to accelerate the pace of preparation to conduct elections to the constituent assembly. Interacting with representatives of civil society organisations and donors, the other day, the chief election commissioner pointed out that the legal framework to guide and administer the polling process is yet to be legislated upon and called upon the political parties to reach consensus soon on the electoral design and procedure. It is to be noted that the political parties have already agreed on the electoral system and, accordingly, a new kind of polling system has been introduced in the interim constitution. For the first time a mixed election system has been adopted in the country. And it is considered as a mechanism to promote inclusion and democratic representation of all sections of the society in the affairs of the state.

The merit of the mixed system of polling lies in the fact that it combines the attributes of proportional representation and majoritation system of elections and creates sufficient space for efficiency and legitimacy of the political system. Some political parties are advocating that the proportional representation system should be adopted fully without mixing it with the majority system. This argument holds some logic as different ethnic groups have called for it too. However, since the mixed polling system has been agreed upon and this has been embodied in the constitution, there is no point on going back and introducing further amendments in the constitution. As pointed out by the chief election commissioner, the crux of the issue lies in defining the details of the polling procedure so that the Election Commission would be enabled to carry out preparation for holding the polls for the constituent assembly as agreed upon by the political stakeholders. Moreover, it is also equally urgent to carry out initiatives regarding civic education to empower the voters so that they understand and know how to exercise their franchise right

Source: The Rising Nepal, June 8, 2007