UN calls for end to violence in Nepal ahead of elections
Monday, 07 Apr 2008 15:00
UN calls for end to violence in Nepal ahead of Thursday's elections
The United Nations (UN) has warned that continuing violent clashes in Nepal are threatening to affect Thursday's historic Constituent Assembly election.
The UN called for an end to violence to allow fair campaigning ahead of the elections this week.
The report by the UN Mission in Nepal and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights claimed that while campaigning has occurred in many constituencies, in others there has been "incidents – frequent, in some cases – of election-related violence and intimidation".
"The Young Communist League and other Maoist cadres continued to be involved in the largest proportion of these incidents," the UN report claimed.
It also called for the Communist party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) to halt the intimidating behaviour of its members ahead of Thursday's election.
"The CPN-M leadership should ensure that its stated readiness to abide by the outcome of the election authenticated through the established procedures is not undermined by contradictory statements," the report said.
UN spokesman Kieran Dwyer told the AFP news agency that Nepal's elections must be "violence-free" and declared that "intimidation of voters must stop".
The run-up to the vote has been marred by nationwide violence by all the main political parties.
The elections are being held to create an assembly that will rewrite the country's constitution and bring to an end a 240-year dynasty, currently led by King Gyanendra.