The Carter Center’s Information Sessions on the Election Commission of Nepal’s Voter Registration with Photograph Program

The Carter Center has been invited and accredited by the ECN to observe the ongoing voter registration process. Carter Center observers have gathered information about the voter registration process from 49 of Nepal's 75 districts since March 2010. The Carter Center has issued several assessment reports on the pilot voter registration process and the full voter registration process. The Carter Center recently held a series of information and discussion sessions in hub cities across Nepal focused on the voter registration process. The sessions were an opportunity for the Center to share its findings on the process to date and to solicit questions and feedback from participants, including government officials, political party representatives, civil society members, community-based groups, local media, and others. District Election Officials and District Administration Officials who attended the sessions played constructive roles and helped to address participant questions and concerns. The main issues and recommendations raised by participants in these sessions were related to people without citizenship certificates, lack of citizen awareness and information on the voter registration process, and the need to target missing groups, such as internal migrants and people living in geographic areas of low turnout to date. The Carter Center recommended that the Government of Nepal increase its efforts to distribute citizenship certificates to all eligible Nepalis and consider amending legal barriers to registration for eligible persons who do not possess the appropriate documents. The Carter Center also recommended that the ECN increase its efforts to share information about the voter registration process and conduct voter education across the country, with support from civil society as needed. Political parties were also encouraged to increase their activities and engagement in the registration process. The ECN was advised to target future registration efforts towards areas of low turnout and to raise awareness regarding options for internal migrants to register. The Carter Center held a series of information sessions on the ECN's Voter Registration with Photograph program from February 23 to March 16, 2012. The sessions were held in a hub city in each development region of Nepal and aimed to share the Carter Center's observation findings, increase awareness and understanding about the voter registration process, and hear directly from participants about their perceptions, questions, and concerns regarding the voter registration process to date. The main issues raised by participants during the information sessions included the requirement that individuals possess a citizenship certificate in order to register to vote, lack of citizen awareness and information on the voter registration process, and the need to target missing groups, such as internal migrants and people living in geographic areas of low turnout to date. Participants expressed concerns that not all Nepalis have citizenship certificates, which could potentially disenfranchise people and undermine the credibility of the voter registration process.