morrisfamilyblog

The life and times of the Morris family (Phil, Elle, Evie and Jude) as they settle down to life in Australia, and whatever else comes along.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

All well here in Pokhara. Election fever has been building over the last couple of weeks as it finally dawned on people that the planned polls were not going to be cancelled yet again. There has been little trouble in this part of the country, but not much peace - taxis have been driving up and down the roads tossing leaflets out of the windows and urging people over a loudspeaker. There have been a series of rallies held by each of the main parties with crowds of people bussed in from the surrounding villages to show their support. This photo is of a Maoist rally near our office. Other parts of the country have not been so lucky with many outbreaks of violence between supporters of different parties.

It seems that monitoring elections is big business. The election commission have licensed 28 international organisations and around 150 national organisations to monitor the poll. 700 international observers and 100,000 from national organisations will be deployed to make sure the polls are fair.

What they actually hope to achieve is not clear. The Maoists have stated openly that they will win the election, and that if they fail to do so it will be because of fraud. If they claim to have been cheated out of a fair result, there are fears that serious violence will return to the country. Even people who do not support the party hope that they will win just enough seats to keep them in peaceful dialogue. All roads will be closed on election day and there have been bans on the sale of alcohol and carrying of knives, and there have been rumours that the phone network will be shut down all in an attempt to prevent trouble breaking out.




















Election posters

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