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Agence France-Presse

Nepal holds its first local elections in two decades on Sunday hoping to cement a fraught transition to democracy and fill an institutional void that has seen corruption flourish.
The last local representatives were elected in 1997 and their mandates lapsed after their five-year terms expired at the height of the brutal Maoist insurgency.
After a 2006 peace deal ended a conflict in which 16,000 people died, the impoverished Himalayan nation began a rocky transition from a Hindu monarchy to a secular federal republic, which has seen the country go through nine governments.

In the vacuum left at the local level, graft has become a way of life. Nepal is ranked one of the most corrupt countries in South Asia.
Bureaucrats appointed on the basis of allegiance to political parties filled local government positions, and spawned a shadow industry of brokers who earned fees for everything from getting citizenship documents to registering a marriage.
When Mahananda Timilsina decided to extend his house, getting permission took months of work and involved hefty bribes.
“If there were elected representatives at the local level, the civil servants wouldn’t dare to ask for bribes from us,” said the 35-year-old.
Many of the nearly 50,000 people vying for 13,556 seats in Sunday’s polls are shunning the main political parties to run as independents or as candidates for new reformist parties.
“It couldn’t get any worse. The gap between society and government couldn’t get any wider,” George Varughese, Nepal representative for the Asia Foundation think-tank, told AFP.
Varughese said the elections could “undermine the current political dominance of the main three parties.”
In Kathmandu, 21-year-old Ranju Darshana, whose party name, Bibeksheel Nepali, translates as the “party for rational Nepalis” is running for mayor.
Also hoping to snatch the votes of people fed up with the graft-ridden system, is a party recently set up by a former chief editor of the BBC’s Nepali service, Rabindra Mishra, who left journalism pledging to clean up the political quagmire.
Both are expected grab votes from the main parties, but neither are likely to win.

Under a new 2015 constitution, local elections followed by provincial and national elections have to be held by January 2018 – the final step in the drawn-out peace process.
The charter gives local governments to be elected Sunday a large degree of autonomy in how they spend allocated funds.
Nepal prime minister admits ‘delays’ in justice for Maoist war victims
Observers say the measure will help undermine the deeply ingrained rent-seeking culture.
“The allocation of funds will be tailored to suit the local needs, rather than tailored to the centre. And tailored by people who are accountable at the local level,” said Varughese.
But not everyone is optimistic.
Anti-corruption activist Sharada Bhusal said the polls would only cement the current corrupt system, particularly in rural communities.
“It is the same so-called leaders who will contest in the election as well. It will strengthen the foundation of the political parties – from bottom to top. It will legitimise them in the system,” she said. Bhusal added that low wages for local level officials was part of the problem – the best paid get less than US$250 a month.
“They are almost in a situation where they are forced to be corrupt to feed themselves,” she said.
Nepal ranks 131 out of 176 countries in Transparency International’s global corruption perception index.
‘Historic decision’: Nepal will hold first local elections in two decades as transition to democracy continues
The watchdog’s survey found that in Nepal political parties and public officials were considered the most graft-ridden institutions – viewed as corrupt by 90 per cent and 85 per cent of people.
Bhusal says the system leaves ordinary Nepalese without basic services, while the politically well-connected get richer.
Polls open at 7am on Sunday in three provinces, with 283 local municipalities voting for candidates for seven positions.
The vote has been split into two phases because of the threat of unrest in the southern plains bordering India. The remaining four provinces will vote on June 14.


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Nepal

Nepalese head to the ballot box for first local polls in two decades

Nepalese activists parade with political party flags during campaigning in Kathmandu. Photo: AFP

In this photograph taken on May 11, 2017, Nepalese activists walk with representatives as they parade with political party flags during campaigning in Kathmandu, ahead of forthcoming local elections in the Himalayan nation. Nepal holds its first local elections in two decades on May 14, hoping to cement a fraught transition to democracy and fill an institutional void that has seen corruption flourish. / AFP PHOTO / Prakash MATHEMA / TO GO WITH Nepal-vote-corruption, ADVANCER by Amanda SYMINGTON

In this photograph taken on May 11, 2017, Nepalese residents are watched by security officials as they gather to receive their voter identity cards from a polling station in Kathmandu, ahead of forthcoming local elections in the Himalayan nation. Nepal holds its first local elections in two decades on May 14, hoping to cement a fraught transition to democracy and fill an institutional void that has seen corruption flourish. / AFP PHOTO / Prakash MATHEMA / TO GO WITH Nepal-vote-corruption, ADVANCER by Amanda SYMINGTON

Time runs out for victims of Nepal’s civil war as deadline to investigative abuses expires

Nepalese war victim Pabitra Sunakhari shows a photograph of her son. Photo: AFP

In this photograph taken on February 2, 2017, Nepalese war victim Shanti Dhakal gestures as she speaks during an interview with AFP in Birendranagar, Surkhet District, some 520kms west of Kathmandu. Shanti Dhakal's husband disappeared without a trace nearly two decades ago at the height of Nepal's brutal Maoist insurgency, presumed murdered by police for having links to the rebels. Dhakal was among 60,000 victims who registered a complaint with two commissions set up in 2015 with a two-year mandate to investigate the murders, rapes and forced disappearances perpetrated by both sides. / AFP PHOTO / PRAKASH MATHEMA / TO GO WITH AFP STORY NEPAL-PEACE-WAR-POLITICS,FEATURE BY ANNABEL SYMINGTON

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