"Thursday’s elections are a landmark in Nepal ’s road to sustained democracy," said Marvyn Thomas, chief executive of Britain-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), which investigates cases of Christian persecution.
Nepalese were voting to pick a constituent assembly that will decide whether to end King Gyanendra’s monarchy and make the Himalayan nation a republic. Among those killed was a candidate gunned down at a polling place in southern Nepal, news reports said.
Clashes between activists of various parties reportedly forced suspension of voting at 33 polling stations. The slain candidate, Sambhu Prasad Singh, was killed just minutes before polls closed in a village in southern Nepal’s Sarlahi District, where sporadic violence was reported. He was the third candidate to die in election-related violence this week, officials said.
PARTY ACTIVIST
The other election day victim was a party activist in a political clash in southern Sunsari District. In all, 20 died in election violence, reported United Press International (UPI).
“The build-up to the election has seen some violence and intimidation, resulting in injuries and fatalities,” CSW confirmed in a statement to BosNewsLife.
An international team led by former American President Jimmy Carter observed the election in the landlocked country and last Hindu kingdom, UPI said.
CSW’s Thomas said his organization hopes that, "these elections will lead to a renewed, strongly democratic Nepal, where the human rights of each person are paramount regardless of caste, religion, ethnicity, age or gender."
RIGHTS COMISSIONER
In a statement, released by CSW, Nepal’s National Human Rights Commissioner and General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Nepal, K.B. Rokaya, said incidents “should not be blown out of proportion." He was quoted as saying that the "country has come out from a 10-year-long bloody armed conflict." Rokaya believes that these incidents "must not be allowed to overshadow or hamper the election process."
CSW cautioned however that the delays in holding them have lead "many commentators to be concerned about the success of the peace process."
A Maoist insurgency held the nation in hostage from 1996 to 2006, leaving over 12,000 people dead, according to estimates. In addition Nepal’s minority Christians have long been oppressed, and devoted Christians and missionaries are known to have been expelled or imprisoned.
This Easter some 25,000 people, including many Christians, attended a rally in the capital Kathmandu, with people heralding "the resurrection of Jesus Christ" during the down town celebration, described by churches as a "historic event." There are an estimated 700,000 Christians in Nepal, but most of its 29 million people are Hindus.
