By IANS
Kathmandu : With three months left for a historic election regarded as a key step to restoring peace in Nepal, exit polls or any other surveys likely to influence public opinion have been banned in the Himalayan nation.
Laying down the code of conduct for the Nov 22 constituent assembly election that will seal King Gyanendra and the royal family’s fate, the Election Commission said that any kind of opinion poll or survey that can directly or indirectly influence voters has been banned till the elections are over.
The poll will choose an electoral college that will write a new constitution for Nepal and decide if the country shall keep its 238-year-old monarchy or become a republic.
But several opinion polls conducted since the fall of King Gyanendra’s government last year still indicate sizeable support for monarchy, if not the king, who became highly unpopular after trying to seize power through a bloodless coup.
An internal poll carried out by one of the biggest parties in the coalition government, the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist, has also reportedly indicated that the Maoists, despite ending their armed revolt and joining the government, were losing public support.
Nepal, where general elections have not been held since 1999, is undertaking a complicated poll in which there will be two rounds of voting.
While 17 of the seats in the 497-seat constituent assembly will be nominated, a mixed electoral system will be followed for the remaining 480 seats. Of this, half the seats will be chosen under a proportionate system while the rest under the first past the post system.
For the proportionate system, a candidate can spend up to NRS 50,000 while a contestant in the first past the post contest can spend up to NRS 459,500, the poll body said.
A candidate found guilty of violating the code of conduct can have the candidature revoked and be fined up to NRS 100,000. The Election Commission has also cracked down on the use of wall paintings, display of banners and use of plastic during campaigns.
Candidates can withdraw nominations Oct 9 and the final list of names will be announced Oct 10.
Though pressure from the international community mounted on Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala to hold the election as per schedule, an armed group in the Terai plains said it was beginning a series of protests and would oppose the polls. It has been demanding an autonomous state in southern Nepal for people from the plains.
The Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha headed by a former Maoist, Jwala Singh, has announced a series of strikes in the plains and warned it would oppose the election — just as the Maoists had done in the past.
A second group from the plains, the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, says it wants to take part in the polls, but the government must heed its demands by Wednesday or face protests that could disrupt the elections.
The forum, which is also demanding an autonomous state in the plains, wants the current government and parliament to be dissolved before the election is held.