| Username |
Post |
| Echoes |
Posted
on 13-Jul-03 02:39 PM
How Free and Fair are Elections in Nepal?
The girl in picture was only 13, yet she voted in a national election right in front of the policemen. The law requires a voter to be at least 18.
Only one of many such cases I had observed while I worked in Nepal.
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| Bhunte |
Posted
on 13-Jul-03 02:58 PM
echo ji,
voting booth ma party representatives ta thiye hola ni...
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| vivid |
Posted
on 13-Jul-03 03:07 PM
Echoes ji,
Sayad tyo keti bhunti bhayera 13 yrs jasto lagya hola tapain lai, (in jest)
Actually that is the major problem in most of the polling centers in remote villages in nepal. Jasko sakti usai ko bhakti ni hajur ti bardiwal haru ta.
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| Bhunte |
Posted
on 13-Jul-03 03:33 PM
Vivid jyu,
arko thread ma Kalanki ko kuro anusar Kya ho vivid jyu buhari khojna sajha ma aunu bhako? ...eheheeh
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| Echoes |
Posted
on 14-Jul-03 08:30 AM
Bhunte-ji:
Well, the parties' "agents" were there, but all parties were involved in this kind of practice so no one would really raise the objection.
vivid-ji:
No, she was indeed 13. I interviewed her afterwards. She didn't even know why she voted.
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| isolated freak |
Posted
on 14-Jul-03 09:04 AM
its called prajatantra for all nepali eesh-tile.
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| Bhunte |
Posted
on 14-Jul-03 12:12 PM
echoes ji,
probably her age in voters' list elevated or she was proxy for her family member, etc.....
that's the problem in LDCs in the absence of Voters' ID....
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| lalpari |
Posted
on 14-Jul-03 12:27 PM
Sorry to be pessimistic but I don't see a open and fair election taking place in Nepal anytime soon!! Even in well developed country like US, the super daddy of them all, we had Florida fiasco ... in some way don't despair... Nepal has a long way to go!!
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| noname |
Posted
on 14-Jul-03 06:34 PM
Looking at kids without footware walking more than 2 Kosh to attend school, one Westerner remarked that Nepali kids are more enthusiastic about learning and eager to attend school than their kids. According to him: "despite of all the odds Nepali students walked to the schools, whereas in our country despite of all the facilities students are turning away from the schools."
I wonder, what dream this girl might have when she waited barefooted for hours to cast the vote?
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| Echoes |
Posted
on 15-Jul-03 02:46 PM
Bhunte-ji:
You are right. Her age was elevated. She and other members in her family walked to the polling booth from a distant village... and encountered a group of gunmen (not the Maoists) on their way. The gunmen warned them to vote for a candidtate if they were to live... and now she's casting her vote for that candidate.
Many candidates recruit gunmen (often from Bihar) to intimidate voters in the villages of remote southern Terai.
Lalpari-ji:
I agree with you in that it isn't unusual for a new democracy like ours to have these kind of problems. But I remain optimistic for the future.
Noname-ji:
That was a sensitive observation on the 'Westerner''s part and I agree with it. As of what dreams the girl in the picture might have had, I couldn't tell you.
But I can tell you that she didn't expect anything to come out of her electing the leader she's voting for...At the maximum, maybe Rs. 100 that the candidate offered her father for having his family vote for him.
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