EU election observers to monitor upcoming Nepal polls

The core team of the European Union's election observers today arrived in Nepal to monitor the general and provincial polls scheduled for November 26 and December 7, an official statement said.
The Election Observation Mission's core team, comprising 10 EU election analysts, arrived in Kathmandu today at the request of the Nepal government.
The team will stay in the country until the completion of the electoral process and prepare a comprehensive final report, according to a press release issued by the EU Mission in Nepal.
The core team will be shortly joined by 38 long-term observers who will be deployed across the country, it said.

On November 20, a short-term team of 20 observers will be deployed for the first phase of the elections scheduled for November 26, while an additional 24 short-term observers will be deployed on December 1 for the second phase of the polls on December 7, the EU statement said.
"The EU's Election Observation Mission looks forward to cooperating with other international and domestic observation missions," it added.

The European Union had in 2008 and 2013 also deployed Election Observation Missions to Nepal.
Shortly after the completion of the House of Representatives and provincial assemblies elections, the mission will issue a preliminary statement of its findings at a press conference in Kathmandu, the EU statement said.

A final report, including recommendations for future electoral processes, will be presented at a later stage, after the finalisation of the whole electoral process, it added.
The general and provincial elections in Nepal were declared on August 21 and are seen as the final step in the Himalayan nation's post-war transition to a federal democracy.
The Maoists have dominated Nepal's politics for more than 20 years after waging a decade-long insurgency against government forces that claimed more than 16,000 lives.
The civil war in Nepal came to an end in 2006.