Shape up or ship out

The major political forces must start the long process of their renewal right now. They have been adequately warned.

The November 20 federal and provincial elections send a clear message: You never take voters for granted. The preliminary Election Commission estimate of 61 percent turnout is low by Nepali standards. Just six months ago, 72 percent of eligible voters had cast their ballots in the local polls. Before that, well over 70 percent had taken part in each of the two Constituent Assembly polls (in 2008 and 2013). The 2017 federal and provincial elections saw nearly 69 percent voter turnout. A drop of 10 percentage points in turnout is no trifling matter in a polity where the vote difference between the two biggest parties is 5 percent or less. There could be many reasons for the voter no-shows. One is that more than 1,700 Nepalis of voting age have been leaving the country to work abroad every single day. The other is that this election was held only six months after the local polls, which perhaps caused voter fatigue. Also, many of the respondents the Post talked to over the past few weeks had expressed disappointment at the political parties’ failure to field new faces in place of the old non-performers that they have been seeing repeatedly.