Grassroots communities most affected by suspension of elections

Sheela Nepali had been counting down the days until Nepal’s national elections for its Constituent Assembly were to take place on 22 November. For her, the vote was a hope for a new beginning.

“We would have had a sansad [member of parliament in Nepalese] from our area who would share our problems of hunger due to food shortage and extreme poverty in my village,” Nepali told IRIN in Kolti village in Bajura district, nearly 700km northwest of the capital, Kathmandu.

Bajura’s villages are considered among the country’s most impoverished, according to Nepalese government statistics, which estimate that the majority of the district’s 100,000-strong population lives beneath the national poverty line.

Food insecurity is the district’s worst problem, according to the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP). During last year’s drought in Nepal’s hill and mountain areas, Bajura was the worst hit, WFP said.

All our hopes were killed due to their political meddling. Again they [politicians] have failed their own people.

The announcement of elections was received as good news for Bajura’s residents as they would help establish effective governance at the local level. This would lead to local government bodies bringing in money for agricultural production initiatives, for better storage of farm products and better market facilities, the villagers said.

Fear of armed conflict

But their hopes were dashed when increasing violence between various ethnic groups delayed the vote. Then, on 5 October, the government announced that the elections were suspended indefinitely. The reason given was that the seven national parties in government had failed to reach an agreement with former Maoist rebels who had threatened to disrupt the elections if their demands were not met.

Nearly 14,000 Nepalese were killed and 200,000 internally displaced by the decade-long armed conflict between Maoist rebels and the government. The conflict ended with the signing of a peace agreement in November 2006 and both

“All our hopes were killed due to their political meddling. Again they [politicians] have failed their own people,” Ganey Motara, a 60-year-old farmer, told IRIN. He explained how local teachers trained by election officers from the capital had taught village residents what they were voting for and how to do it.

Photo: Naresh Newar/IRIN

Nepalese in food-insecure districts such as Bajura depend on WFP for food

“For villagers, the election was a symbol of the country returning to normalcy, peace and development,” said Kausi Giri, a local teacher. She said that all the villagers wanted to take part in the election, hoping to bring about development programmes such as roads construction, improved electricity distribution and better farming technologies.

Kolti is among dozens of villages in Bajura that has no navigable roads. It takes nearly eight days to travel 100km south to the nearest market place, in Accham district, according to local villagers.

“It seems like everything was a waste of time and energy,” said Giri.

With the elections suspended, there is now fear among the local villagers that the country will be pushed back to war. “Will the Maoists and other parties fight again? Is the peace process over now?” asked Kesar Nath Yogi, a 72-year-old farmer.

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