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Vote counting for the Nov 20 elections is underway across 165 constituencies. And if the preliminary count is anything to go by, independent and new party candidates are likely to give old established parties the run for their money. As of Nov 21 evening, Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), a new party led by former TV host Rabi Lamichhane, was ahead in several constituencies including in Kathmandu Valley. Nepali Congress was leading in more than three dozen constituencies, CPN-UML in 18, and RSP in eight. For a new party like the RSP, to hit the ground running like this suggests that major political parties can no longer rely on their traditional voter base to win their elections. There was a time when elections used to be a three-horse race between Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, and CPN (Maoist Center). In Madhes Province, these three parties compete against the Madhes-based parties. Not anymore. New parties and independent and RSP candidates are posing tough challenges to the ‘heavyweights’ of old political parties. Similarly, young faces of major political parties are leading in several constituencies. These two trends clearly give a strong message: people are frustrated with old faces and they want to see new faces at the helm of politics. Major parties NC and UML are unlikely to face a major loss in this election but it serves as a big warning to them to mend their ways. NC is likely to emerge as the largest party from elections followed by CPN-UML. Preliminary counting shows Maoist party is unlikely to fare well in the urban areas. The party is likely to win seats in the mid-west, Madhes, and in the hilly district. Nepal’s Nov 20 parliamentary and provincial assembly elections registered a voter turnout of 61 percent, 7 percent below than 2017 national elections. In every election after 2008, a new trend is emerging. In 2008, the former rebel Maoist party unexpectedly emerged as the largest party. In the second Constituent Assembly elections held in 2013, Rashtriya Prajatantra Party, a royalist party, secured 25 seats in the Constituent Assembly. In 2017, parliamentary elections then left the alliance of CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) secured almost two-thirds votes. This time, RSP and some independent candidates are likely to make their presence in the national parliament.

Quick facts Born on 8 Jan 1928 in Kathmandu  Went to Durbar High School, Kathmandu  Graduated from St Xavier’s College  Post-grad from Bombay University, India  Joined Ministry of Finance in 1951  Husband of Vijayalaxmi Malla    Father to Pratima Pande, Ashok Rana, Sangeeta Thapa, and Amar Rana  As a great-grandson of Rana Prime Minister Dev Shumsher, I had a very privileged life. I was conferred with the rank of lieutenant colonel of the army at a young age, and I got a good education. I went to Bombay for higher studies.  It was during my student life in India, I witnessed first-hand the anti-British movement, which encouraged me to become a democrat and rebel against my own family, who belonged to the feudal ruling class.  After my master's degree, I returned to Nepal. At that time, the government was seeking economics scholars for the finance ministry. I, along with three other people, was the only economics student in Nepal, and all of us were appointed to the ministry in 1951. In the next two months, I became the finance secretary out of my four peers based on my performance. There was no such position like the finance secretary before me. There was also no system of announcing the national budget and bringing out a national expenditure report.  I served as the finance secretary for five years, and during my tenure, the ministry introduced many economic reforms. I prepared the national budget and increased the government sources. At that time, the government’s income mainly came from land revenue, which was not enough. So the ministry came up with new financial regulations and modernized the customs depots in Biratnagar, Bhairahawa, Birgunj and other places to increase the government’s revenue. The ministry also established the Income Tax Department and Excise Department. In 1952, I was part of the Prime Minister Matrika Prasad Koirala’s delegation to India. During the visit, I proposed a trading deal with India. The Indian government used to levy tax on the goods produced there, and when the same goods were bought in Nepal, the Nepalis would have to pay double tax. So, I asked the Indian government to remove the tax. It took around four years to implement the proposal. Nepal received Rs 30m annually as a refund. After a successful tenure as a finance secretary, I was offered the job of the governor at Nepal Rastra Bank by the then King Mahendra. There was no central bank in the country yet, so the king gave me a book that had a draft of the Banking Act. But I requested the king that I would need some time to study the act of central banks of foreign countries and only start the process of establishing the central bank in Nepal. Until then, I would work as an officer on special duty. My request was granted. At first, I established a central office, an office for banking transactions, and a note department. After almost six months of homework, I was appointed as the governor on 26 April 1956. With a small team, we started working to realize King Mahendra’s aim. He had two major concerns: to introduce Nepali notes in Tarai, and stabilize an exchange rate between Rs and InRs. [caption id="attachment_34424" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Rana at Nepal Rastra Bank’s office.[/caption] During those days, the Nepali currency was not in use in the Tarai, so much so that it was customary to take the land revenue and immigration duties in Indian currency. In such a situation, replacing Indian notes with Nepali ones was a challenging task. Unless there was a stable exchange rate between Rs and InRs, it was not possible to circulate Nepali currency in the Tarai. We researched for three years and came up with the exchange rate of Rs 160 for InRs 100. To date, we use the same rate. We then established currency exchange centers from East to West. Some moneylenders were upset with this decision, as they used to buy InRs at a cheap price from Nepalis in foreign employment and sell them at a high price during Dashain shopping. Though it was a tough task, we were able to do a revolutionary job of circulating Nepali currency in the Tarai. These days, I sometimes wonder how we managed to achieve the task in such a short period. Nepali notes were printed at Nashik Security Press in India back then. After the establishment of the central bank, we called for an international tender because we had to revise the notes that were being printed from India. A proposal from a company from the UK was the best. It came up with a new design for notes bearing the pictures of famous places of Nepal. It was very nice and attractive. The notes printed in India also did not have the security thread; it was added on to the notes printed in the UK.  After I served as the governor for four years and eight months and almost two months since King Mahendra banned political parties and started a dictatorial regime, I was sacked on 8 Feb 1961 because I was a supporter of democracy.   Soon after the king took absolute power, the Nepali economic situation started going bad. I requested the king to reappoint me, but to no avail. I waited for several months and then decided to work for the United Nations. I worked in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, America, Afghanistan, Myanmar, and Indonesia.  Ever since I became the finance secretary, I have worked tirelessly. After retirement, I tried to spend my time playing golf and reading books. But I got bored after six months and decided to start a business. I established Gorkha Brewery Company and brought international beer brands like Tuborg and Carlsberg to Nepal. I also established the first private bank in Nepal, Himalayan Bank Ltd.   About him Sangeeta Thapa (Daughter) My father is my hero. He has treated me as his best friend. Though he was engaged in professional life most of the time, he always made time for his children. He would take interest about our life and our studies. He inspired me and my siblings to work hard to find success. He also has a huge interest in art and literature, and I feel that I got involved in the field of arts because of him.  Kiran Pyakurel (Friend) We have been friends since we were working for the United Nations. He is an admirable man. Despite being born to a Rana family, he always advocated for democracy, which also cost him the post of governor. I am inspired by how he never lost his learning spirit and has managed to remain curious all his life. No matter his age, he is always curious to learn about new things.  Rabi Singh (Family friend) I have known many high profile individuals in my life, but no one as polite and down to earth as Himalaya Shumsher Rana. It is all thanks to him that Nepal underwent many financial reforms. There are many things we can still learn from him. He is a man who could have been one of the richest people of Nepal, but he didn’t care about wealth. He is certainly wealthy, but he has always lived a simple life, which is inspirational.  

Nepal’s Nov 20 parliamentary and provincial assembly elections registered a voter turnout of 61 percent, according to the Election Commission (EC). Speaking at a press conference, Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Thapaliya said voter turnout fell below expectations. The highest turnout (78 percent) was recorded in the second Constituent Assembly (CA) elections in 2013, while the lowest was in the parliamentary elections of 1993 (61 percent) and the first CA election in 2008 (61percent), respectively. In the 2017 parliamentary and provincial assembly elections, the turnout of voters was decent at 68.67 percent. In the local-level elections held in May this year, voter turnout was 66.86 percent. Voter turnout this time, however, was much lower, even though there were no major security threats to the elections. In 2017, people were excited to vote because they had hoped the elections would lead the country toward political stability and prosperity. But that was not to be. Some analysts say the post-2017 political scene was the very reason why many voters did not cast their ballots this time. Chandra Dev Bhatta, a political analyst, says lower turnout was expected right from the very beginning when major political parties country began allocating tickets. The parties distributed election tickets to their near and dear ones, as they had been doing since the 1990s. Many candidates were familiar faces who even after winning the elections had delivered little, if nothing, to their constituencies over the last three decades. “The voters, irrespective of their age and political persuasion, this time wanted to see new candidates who could bring about real change,” says Bhatta. “But that didn’t happen when the parties announced their candidates.” Another reason for low voter turnout, says Bhatta, was the fact that the election this time was not conducted on any specific agendas, ones connected to the livelihood of the people. “Major parties tried to trump up the rumor that if they didn’t win the election this time, the country’s democracy, sovereignty, and the constitution itself would be endangered,” says Bhatta. “Of course, the discerning voters didn’t buy this bluff.” In fact, declining voter turnout is a global trend. According to a study carried out by IDEA International in 2016, despite the growth in the global voter population and the number of countries that hold elections, the global average voter turnout has decreased significantly since the early 1990s. Global voter turnout, says the report, was fairly stable between the 1940s and the 1980s, falling only slightly from 78 percent to 76 percent over the entire period. “It then fell sharply in the 1990s to 70 percent and continued its decline to reach 66 percent in the period of 2011–15.” This is most definitely not because the voters are not interested in politics. Analysts say it is perhaps because voters no longer identify with their politicians. Voter turnout in the previous elections 1991: 65.15 percent 1993: 61.86 percent 1999: 65.79 percent 2008: 61.7 percent (FPTP) and 63.3 percent (PR) 2013: 78.74 percent (FPTP), 79.82 percent (PR) 2017: 68.67 percent 2022: 61 percent

It’s been 75 years since the establishment of Nepal-US diplomatic relations. In this context, AP1 HD television, a sister broadcast media of ApEx, interviewed the newly appointed US ambassador to Nepal, Dean R Thompson, to talk about bilateral ties between the two countries, the much debated Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS), China, India, and other bilateral issues.. Excerpts.    What are you looking forward to in your tenure as the ambassador? We are now at an exciting period in both countries’ history. We have just celebrated 75 years of Nepal-US bilateral relations. We are at a time where I think we can set the foundation for the next 75 years. Nepal is getting ready to elect a new government so we are excited to work together. The US, of course, is involved in a number of important investments in other projects here, and we look forward to working on all those.  You’ve been in the field of diplomacy for over 25 years. How do you see your current role as an ambassador? I’ve had the privilege to serve as a chief of mission previously, but not as a senate-confirmed ambassador. So to have this role now is a great honor, and I look forward to doing everything I can with my wonderful mission at the US Embassy. With the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) projects, which we’re getting ready to implement, and the recently signed USAID agreement, there are many things to do. Also, with our historical projects through the Peace Corps and all the volunteers that have been here, we are heading in a good path. We have wonderful people-to-people relationships and a growing government-to-government relationship. So, I see my role quite extensively, and I’m looking forward to exploring all of these angles. What does the US think about Nepal’s relations with China and India? South Asia is a dynamic region and I was privileged to lead the US policy on it for a couple of years, and it just cemented for me my fondness and excitement about the potential that we have throughout South Asia. But I think Nepal, in particular, is in a geopolitically challenging place, right between India and China. I fully believe Nepal is destined to have good relations with its neighbors. I just think that we have a great opportunity to build on the partnership that we’ve had over the last 75 years. I’m very excited to watch how Nepal conducts its foreign policy to learn more about its relationships both with India and with China. The US is often accused of seeing smaller South Asian countries like Nepal with an Indian eye. What do you say? I disagree with the premise. I have to look into why this narrative is set here. It doesn’t fit the reality of US policy. The reality is that we want to see a strong Nepal that is able to exercise its sovereignty, that enjoys territorial integrity, that has the opportunity to build its democratic institutions and expand its economy to go on a path to prosperity. We have a wonderful relationship with India, as we built a strategic partnership over many years and we work closely on many fronts. And that I think will benefit the world and the region in the years to come. At the same time, we have had a very close and growing relationship with Nepal. Nepal on its own merits and initiatives has qualified for the MCC project. Nepal has qualified for the expansive USAID project. Nepal has shown itself to be a country where we want to bring our development finance corporation and invest. All of those things are independent of Nepal’s relationship with anyone else, and completely a factor of our confidence and belief that Nepal has a great future ahead of it in its own right.  How do you see the current Nepali-US relations and how has it evolved over the years? It’s evolving at a rapid and exciting pace. We’ve talked about the $500m US grant that we’re putting into Nepal to expand its hydropower capabilities and to expand its transportation sector. To help lay a strong foundation for its growing economy, we have a $659m agreement between USAID and Nepal. Part of that will focus on traditional areas where we’ve worked with Nepal over the years, like education, health, and agriculture, and then on areas that are newer, perhaps climate mitigation, economic growth, and entrepreneurship.  I have mentioned the Peace Corps. We’ve had over 4,000 Americans come and be Peace Corps volunteers in Nepal, and I’ve met so many Nepalis saying they are still in touch with their Peace Corps teachers who live in different parts of the US. It’s great to see those ties continuing and being built on.  In the financial sector, the US development finance corporations have invested almost $150m in helping local banks expand their loans to the small- and medium-sized business sector, which is the backbone of any growing economy. Those are the areas I’m very excited to keep working on, and I think that we have huge potential going forward.  MCC was a much-debated US grant that has been finally ratified by the Nepali parliament. How do you see the overall process going? It is going very well, I must say. We’re working very closely with our government partners to lay the foundations for where we need to go over the next few months to get to the construction phase. MCC is going to bring thousands of jobs during the construction phase. As we build these power lines and new roads and the projects themselves have once completed, they will lead up to over 2,000 jobs. It is unfortunate that there was so much disinformation given about MCC. Now we’re getting ready to put people to work, and we’re very excited about it.  Is it a part of Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS) and do we need consent from India for our projects? MCC is an independent US agency that has its mandate of using a good investment criterion to foster economic growth. And Nepal qualifies for that completely on its own and in competition with many other countries around the world. It is independent from anything like USAID, DFC or the Peace Corps.  The IPS has also got a lot of bad information in Nepal. People have equated it with a military strategy or something more aggressive and more competitive. But that’s not true at all. I wouldn’t speculate on where it went wrong. I’m not worrying about it right now, but I’m about trying to build and go forward and figure out how we can make the most of the opportunity we have now with MCC, DFC, USAID, and other great initiatives.  MCC is sometimes compared to China’s Belt-Road Initiative (BRI). How do you see it? There were some comments from China regarding the MCC. I’m not sure why they felt compelled to comment about it. It’s a pretty simple project. I’m not going to be here to tell Nepal what projects it should or should not be part of. I'm just going to try to continue to work with Nepal in a way that helps them evaluate and gives them a context in which they can get the best deal possible for the country and for the people of Nepal.  The Chinese have been using BRI throughout the region, and it is a means to exercise their influence. American policy is not designed to try to look for China’s rise or try to change China’s system. It’s designed to look at how we can get to a point where democracy is seen as a preferred means of running a country. As for BRI, that’s for the people of Nepal to determine on their own. There are no reservations from our side. I just want to make sure that we're providing the best opportunity possible. Can Nepal be like China, India, Korea or Taiwan who all got big support from the US to be a tech-hub?  I think Nepal has a great opportunity to use the IT industry as sort of a launching pad or a leapfrog position for its development. We’re already seeing US-tech companies come into Nepal. We’ve got companies coming in to set up cyber security operations. We’ve got a company coming in to do artificial intelligence work here. I think they’re recognizing that Nepal has skills that are beneficial to their investment. So, we’re going to continue to work. But I have to emphasize one thing here. When you talk about the pledges of investments, we lump countries into one category. It’s important to note the US government doesn’t direct any company to go and invest in foreign nations. They make their own decisions. So, I think we really like to focus on how we can be helpful in creating a positive environment to attract more companies over here. If the US companies arrive here, the other countries will also be interested as well. Instead of providing grants and financial assistance, can the US help more in technology transfer and bilateral exchange of academics and research? It is something very important and it’s where we’re working on. There are Fulbright exchange programs. It’s often overlooked that Nepal has the 12th largest contingent of students in the US. Many of these students get advanced degrees, work for a time, and then come back to Nepal with that knowledge and investment opportunities. And it is a huge area for us to build on in the years ahead. Tech transfer and recycling of brainpower back into the country is a very exciting area for us to work on. A lot of people from Nepal are living and working overseas for a long time. To create good financial opportunities in the country, jobs and programs like MCC perhaps can be helpful on that front. It can also help attract talent back to the country again.   We have a general election near. What’s your thought and message? I’m very excited to watch the electoral process here. I am a big fan of democracy. We just had our own mid-term elections in the United States. I find it empowering for people to have a chance to select their leaders and I’m excited to see who they select for the next five years, and, by extension, who they select for us to work with in furthering this great relationship for the next 75 years.