HR Reports - Last Updated: March 28, 2018

113^th International women’s day is being celebrated under the slogan ’A strong foundation for gender equality: expansion of women’s access to creative technologies.’ Nepal is party to several International Conventions including the United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women – 1979. Despite the promulgation of various policies and laws regarding women’s rights in Nepal, there is a space for improvement in the implementation of existing laws. There has been an improvement regarding the political participation of women in Nepal, however women as still suffering from violence. According to the documented data of the Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC), there was no reduction in the number of incidents of violence against women in 2022. This report is prepared based on the information collected by INSEC from all 77 districts of the country.

Local level elections have been held in all the districts of the country today (May 13, 2022). In some of the local levels of Dang and Kapilvastu, the polling has been postponed due to the death of the candidates. The election has been completed in 751 local levels and in some of the wards people’s representatives have already been elected undisputedly. INSEC had received the permission of election observation from the Election Commission and 234 observers were delegated in more than 250 polling stations in 75 districts. According to the information received from the observers of INSEC, today’s election was peaceful except for very few disputes, clashes and violation of code of conduct.

After the initiation of the Federal System of Government, this is the second local level election. Tomorrow, May 13 is the day for the citizens of Nepal to vote. A total of 145,011 candidates are running for 35,221 posts at different local levels in the upcoming election which is to be held from 7 am to 5 pm. There are 17,733,723 voters in this election. On the second day of the electoral silence period, clashes were documented in some districts of the country.

Today is the first day of the electoral silence period. As per the information stated by the Election Commission, the preparations for the election have been completed and a meticulous monitoring team has been mobilized to monitor and take immediate action in case of violation of the code of conduct. They have also initiated the distribution of voter ID cards from polling stations across the country. The card will be distributed by tomorrow. Newly registered voters will get an identity card. Similarly, the Commission has also stated that the voters who have applied to the District Election Office after losing their identity cards will also get the identity card from their respective polling stations. According to the Commission, the voters who do not have a voter identity card can vote even if they show their citizenship. A total of 10,756 polling stations have been allocated at 753 local levels across the country.

The team of the commission has reached all the polling stations. The local level election is being held countrywide in a single phase on May 13. For that, a period of electoral silence started last night. This time, 145,011 candidates are running for 35,221 posts at 753 local levels. There are 17,733,723 voters. Those returning home from cities including the capital could be seen queuing at the bus park. Political parties were found to have rented vehicles to commute their voters. On the first day of the electoral silence period, some incidents of violation of the election code of conduct were witnessed and documented in different parts of the country. The political manipulation during this period certainly does not help to make the election impartial.

Today is the last day for political parties, their cadres and independent candidates to campaign for the local level election which will be held at 753 local levels on Friday, May 13. The period of electoral silence starts at 12 o’clock tonight. The 48 hours before the main day of the election is called the electoral silence period. In this period, activities like campaigning and promotion cannot be done through any medium. Election Commission’s Spokesperson Shaligram Poudel informed that the security forces would immediately take control of any activities that were found to influence the voters during the electoral silence period. During this period, there will be no discussion, interaction, assembly, conference or workshop, including election campaigning. The Election Code of Conduct, 2078 states that campaigning materials of political parties or candidates placed around 300 meters from the polling station should be removed before the start of the electoral silence period. The Election Commission has stated that 19 high-level committees have been formed to take immediate action against the political parties and candidates violating the election code of conduct

The nomination registration of candidates for the local level election has been completed peacefully on April 24 and 25. According to the district representatives of INSEC and province offices of INSEC, initially the number of candidates were low and it was followed by a large number of candidates on the second day. The Election Commission has published the schedule for holding the election in a single phase across the country and has also intensified its preparations.

The Election Commission implements different Guidelines and Codes of Conduct for a fair and clean election. The periodic elections are considered the soul of democracy. Democracy is the rule of sovereignty for the people. Democracy is the political system governing civilians by maintaining the rule of law. Therefore, periodic elections are inevitable in a democracy. Voting in elections is a sovereign and fundamental right of the people. Only with a clean, credible, ethical and fraud-free election can the people choose the right representatives. Fair elections can help strengthen and develop the democratic system. Local Level Election, 2079 monitoring report has included the description of the situation before the day of candidature (April 24, 2022).

This year the 16-days campaign against gender-based violence was accompanied by the slogan: Orange the World: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect! In Nepal, the campaign was initiated in the year 1997 and it aims to increase awareness against gender-based violence.

Although the medical sector was aware of the infection since December 2019, the first case of Corona was documented on 10 January 2020 in Wuhan, China and has turned into the pandemic. At present approximately 875,000 people are infected with Corona worldwide. More than 43,000 have lost their lives. Corona Virus declared as a pandemic by the United Nations and World Health Organization has brought public health of the entire world to a really difficult turn throughout the history. Except for a few countries, this pandemic has terrified all remaining countries in the world.