About ten years after the end of the bloody civil war, is ruled in Nepal, often over the heads of the citizens. The first, held local elections should bring democratic progress.
They are considered to be important step for the democratic development of Nepal: The first local elections in the country on the Himalayas for 20 years. The first Phase took place in may. The inhabitants of the mountainous chose highlands. The second Phase will be conducted this Wednesday, in the electoral districts in the southern plains. The division of elections in two phases was decided out of fear of unrest, and thus points to a major stumbling block in the political development of the country.
Almost half of the total Nepal’s population of 28 million lives in a lowland strip along the border with India, the Terai. The elections are not seen in the lowlands necessarily as an opportunity for more participation, but as a building block for further discrimination. Because the local elections are the first stage of a political process with the Parliament elections at the end of the year, with the final enactment of the controversial and activists of the lowlands rejected Constitution.
Traditional way of life in the Terai in southern Nepal
The Disadvantaged of the lowlands
Although the population in the Terai from over 120 ethnic groups and Hindu castes are referred to the residents in the political debate, in summary, as Mahdesis. Since then, Nepal at the beginning of the 90s, is still under the monarchy, which was abolished in 2008 – the Transition to a multi-party system of government began, Madhesi activists tried to, their interests in the national politics. The traditional discrimination of the inhabitants of the Terai but to this day, as Julia street home from the Hamburg-based GIGA Institute of Asian studies compared to the DW says: “The political and economic Power in Nepal is a long time in a group in the country. The Hindus of the high castes, especially men, from the Central highlands. The Madhesis feel at a disadvantage when it comes to well-paid Jobs, such as in administration or in the military. They are also more likely to be victims of violations of human rights by the police.”
A consequence of the devastating earthquake in the spring of 2015, the sudden agreement on a new Constitution was
The anger of Madhesis by the Central government erupted, most recently in September 2015: All the major parties had agreed, surprisingly – while the country was still under the shock of the devastating earthquake in the spring – on a long-promised new Constitution. Week blocked applied to the lowland inhabitants of the border to India, which led to a fuel shortage and economic losses in the country. In the case of violent clashes with security forces up to 50 people were killed. Julia street home, explains the background: “After the end of the civil war in Nepal in 2006, there were very important advances, also because the former Maoist rebel groups had argued strongly for minority rights. The Madhesis and other groups see the Constitution of 2015 this progress, however, is undone.”
Controversial province borders and other complaints
In particular, the border in the new Federal System is rejected by the Madhesis. Because the boundaries of the new seven provinces of cut areas by the residents as their ancestral homeland considered, so that they are in almost each of these provinces in the minority, so their political influence is reduced. “After 2006, there were fixed quotas for Madhesis in Parliament, but at a later date by small-scale formulations in the Constitution again softened,” says Julia street home. One of the laws, against the lowland residents are protesting, especially violently, is the new law on citizenship. “There are children of mixed marriages, which are especially prevalent in the Terai at a disadvantage, because a lot of family ties there are to India”, is how Volker Pabst writes in an article for the NZZ.
Julia street home: so Far, no real dialogue with the lowlands has taken place-residents
Real dialogue is missing
Nepal is still a Nation in the making, a process in which, especially on the power play-interested politicians in the country to play a little constructive role. This applies to the former rebels, the Maoists, as well as the nominally Communist parties and the Nepali Congress party. Nepal-expert on Julia street home does not mean that it is relevant to many of the conflicts in the first place on the individual phrases: “It’s the process of how the law is created. And there is very lot of things went wrong. Madhesis and other disadvantaged groups have been excluded from many discussions of the Constitution, their Position was not respected, politicians and the media have commented on their protests very disparagingly: they are not real Nepalis, why you want to join in the conversation? was asked. To them laws were enforced just in front of the nose. To resolve the conflict, then, is a much more inclusive set of dialogue is needed, which shows all of the people groups: We respect your point of view.”
So far, no convergence is evident, even from the lowlands of the opposition to the policy is rooted from “upstairs”. As in the past, there are in the flat country, threats to boycott the elections. Therefore, they were postponed in a constituency in the East of the Terai in Janakpur even again, in the September of 2017.
Police officers face protesters in the South of Nepal
Calls for boycotts and a change in attitude of India
“The election process provides the parties which claim to represent the interests of the Mahdesis, in front of a big Dilemma,” says Julia street home. “For the first election in may was seen by those who have chosen, as a great success, which I could then place in the vicinity of Kathmandu to convince. This was also reflected in the turnout, which amounted to about 70 percent. If the Madhesi parties boycott the elections and the constitutional process, and interfere with, you could authorize more marginal, because they set the mood in the Rest of the country.”
Not least, there are the regional foreign policy changes which will make the Madhesi activists, their cause is difficult: “The support of India seems to be waning,” says Julia street home. “New Delhi has supported in recent years, the Madhesi protests very strongly, which resulted in the fall of 2015 to a five-month Blockade of the border. India has, however, expressed now the support for the local elections and said: We are sure that this process is orderly.”
The 70-year-old Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Congress party is already for the fourth Time in his long career a head of government in Nepal, and the 25. in 27 years
The new Prime Minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Congress party has declared the Integration of Madhesis into the political process his top priority. He is aiming for Amendments to the Constitution, the concerns of the populations in the lowlands. Thus, the requirement for a plan would be given to scheduled completion of the electoral and constitutional process in Nepal until next spring. The question is whether Deuba will receive the widest possible consent of the main political forces in the Parliament, or whether, yet again, the well-known tactical games of Power and Prestige to gain the upper hand.