election day seemed to go off without too many hitches. there was 1 candidate killed, a drive by shooting, and about 10 polling stations closed due to ballot 'capturing' where someone would run up, grab the ballot box and throw it in the river so none of those votes could be counted. ??? so, that's considered a pretty successful election day by nepali standards, i guess. it may take up to 3 weeks to tally all of the votes and this is where the unrest may fester a la zimbabwe. again, we wait and hold our breaths with suitcases packed just in case. it's highly unlikely we'd have to evacuate, but apparently, when the embassy says move, you don't have much time. there was a ban on transportation yesterday, except for vehicles with official stickers like seen above. the drive by motorcycle didn't have an official sticker on it, but was able to get quite close for some reason. i don't think he was caught, either. ??? many temples were used as polling stations because they are somewhat open and centrally located. fences were erected, signs were hung and a police presence was assembled outside of each location. christy and i went for a walk in the mid afternoon and it was bizarre that there were so very few cars on the street. people were out meandering about, bikes ruled the traffic lanes and kids and dogs played in the streets. it certainly seemed like the kind of day kids would remember for a lifetime! even today seems quite quiet, although the ban on traffic has been lifted. yesterday was a nice reprieve from the city's transportation noise and pollution. two friends work with the election commission and were out yesterday overseeing the process. one took some really good photos (and saw jimmy carter's convoy) and i'll post those later. this election was to form a constitutional assembly out of 74, yes seventy-four, possible parties (see election link, under links of interest, on the left of my blog) and these people will rewrite the constitution and decide what will happen to the current king and how they want the country to be run in the future. it'll take between 18-24 months to rewrite the constitution and in the meantime some temporary laws will be in place. on the election website link, check out all of the parties and the sample ballot paper (on left once you're in the link). it's so interesting that they have to use pictures to represent the parties because of nepal's high illiteracy rate. some of the pictures are so funny! oh, and the year in nepal now is 2064, but they also use 2008; they recognize both calendars. although the election polls that were forced to close yesterday are trying to let the people vote today, the initial reaction appears to be pretty successful. whew! how was your thursday??! : ) love, j
election day seemed to go off without too many hitches. there was 1 candidate killed, a drive by shooting, and about 10 polling stations closed due to ballot 'capturing' where someone would run up, grab the ballot box and throw it in the river so none of those votes could be counted. ??? so, that's considered a pretty successful election day by nepali standards, i guess. it may take up to 3 weeks to tally all of the votes and this is where the unrest may fester a la zimbabwe. again, we wait and hold our breaths with suitcases packed just in case. it's highly unlikely we'd have to evacuate, but apparently, when the embassy says move, you don't have much time. there was a ban on transportation yesterday, except for vehicles with official stickers like seen above. the drive by motorcycle didn't have an official sticker on it, but was able to get quite close for some reason. i don't think he was caught, either. ??? many temples were used as polling stations because they are somewhat open and centrally located. fences were erected, signs were hung and a police presence was assembled outside of each location. christy and i went for a walk in the mid afternoon and it was bizarre that there were so very few cars on the street. people were out meandering about, bikes ruled the traffic lanes and kids and dogs played in the streets. it certainly seemed like the kind of day kids would remember for a lifetime! even today seems quite quiet, although the ban on traffic has been lifted. yesterday was a nice reprieve from the city's transportation noise and pollution. two friends work with the election commission and were out yesterday overseeing the process. one took some really good photos (and saw jimmy carter's convoy) and i'll post those later. this election was to form a constitutional assembly out of 74, yes seventy-four, possible parties (see election link, under links of interest, on the left of my blog) and these people will rewrite the constitution and decide what will happen to the current king and how they want the country to be run in the future. it'll take between 18-24 months to rewrite the constitution and in the meantime some temporary laws will be in place. on the election website link, check out all of the parties and the sample ballot paper (on left once you're in the link). it's so interesting that they have to use pictures to represent the parties because of nepal's high illiteracy rate. some of the pictures are so funny! oh, and the year in nepal now is 2064, but they also use 2008; they recognize both calendars. although the election polls that were forced to close yesterday are trying to let the people vote today, the initial reaction appears to be pretty successful. whew! how was your thursday??! : ) love, j
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