The Youth Association Nepal (YAN) has urged the Election Commission (EC) to grant voting rights to the Nepali diaspora in various parts of the world.

Citing the UN accreditation to grant voter rights to eligible voters living abroad, YAN expressed the necessity of their participation in the upcoming Constituent Assembly (CA) elections.

Submitting a 15-point memorandum to Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety on Thursday, the youth wing aligned with the CPN-UML requested the election body to ensure voting rights to youth above 16 years of age and the Nepali population abroad.

Earlier in 2011, EC had conducted a research to enlist the Nepali diaspora as voters for the first time. Countries with over 100,000 Nepalis were initially targeted in the voter registration drive. Separate EC teams visited countries like Qatar, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Thailand, the Philippines and South Korea to conduct a feasible study. The reports submitted after the study hasn’t been made public so far.

According to the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE), around two million Nepalis have legally left the country for employment in countries other than India. It is estimated that tens of thousands of Nepalis are living abroad illegally with the number of Nepali students in foreign universities also increasing every year.   

The EC, however, doesn’t have any plans to introduce postal or e-voting systems. The commission had expressed the need to amend some election regulations and directives before starting the voter registration programme abroad. The commission claimed that Nepalis are living in 112 countries for education, employment or business.

Published on: 29 March 2013 | The Kathmandu Post