[Corruption and instability have stalled development in the tiny Himalayan nation, leaving Sherpa villages with limited access to power, health care and education. Now, many hope Nepal’s transition from a monarchy to a federalized republic will bring with it modern basics. “Democracy is happiness,” one voter said, “and happiness is roads.”]
By
Vidhi Doshi and Pradeep Bashyal
 |
|
Kami
Sherpa, 53, who trekked all the way from Tempathang, wore his best suit on
voting day.
“My
country is becoming more beautiful today, so I should also look my best,” he
said.
(Vidhi
Doshi/The Washington Post)
|
TEMPATHANG,
Nepal — The treacherous
trail that connects this remote Sherpa village in the Himalayas to the rest of
the world was unusually crowded over the weekend as scores of voters walked for
hours across narrow mountain ridges to vote in Nepal’s first parliamentary
elections since 2006.
Young men raced down jagged slopes laughing
and listening to songs blaring from their phones. Mothers carried babies in
slings and baskets. The night before the election, many camped near the polling
station, sharing food and talking politics into the early morning hours.
Nepal’s Sherpas, skilled mountaineers famous
for guiding Western adventurers to difficult summits, have lived on some of the
world’s most brutal terrain for centuries. While Nepal’s neighbors in Asia
have experienced decades of rapid growth, this country’s experience has been
different.
Corruption and instability have stalled
development in the tiny Himalayan nation, leaving Sherpa villages with limited
access to power, health care and education. Now, many hope Nepal’s transition
from a monarchy to a federalized republic will bring with it modern basics.
“Democracy is happiness,” one voter said, “and happiness is roads.”
Wangdhi Sherpa woke at 4 a.m. Sunday to walk
to the polling station. “If we vote, there will be development,” he said at
dawn as he walked along the grueling trail that lies about 75 miles north of
Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital. “Yesterday many people in the village were asking
others to vote. They were saying, ‘You can’t blame the government for not
developing the village if you don’t vote.’ ”
Sherpas were among the 2 million Nepalis in
the hills and mountains who voted in the first phase of elections Sunday. A
second phase of voting will take place Dec. 7 in towns and cities. Elections
are held on two separate days because Nepal’s mountainous geography makes the
logistics of voting a challenge. New national and provincial governments are
expected to be announced early next year.
For Nepalis, the elections are a bright spot
after years of instability. In the past 28 years, Nepal has had 26 changes of
government. Previous experiments with democracy in the 1950s and 1990s
disintegrated. Then came one disaster after another: Ten members of the royal
family were shot dead by the crown prince at a dinner party in 2001; a
decade-long civil war claimed more than 16,000 lives; and a devastating
earthquake in 2015 killed more than 8,000 people and left thousands homeless.
Amid such turmoil, elections are a festive
event: Sunday’s voting saw an estimated 65 percent turnout of those eligible to
vote that day, notably high given low literacy rates and the difficulty in
reaching polling stations. Before heading to the polls, Kami Sherpa put on his
best suit and hat. “My country is becoming more beautiful today,” he said, “so
I should also look my best.”
But for others, enthusiasm for Nepal’s future
is tempered by experience with past failures. Yangi Sherpa, one of the few who
stayed home in Tempathang during polling, said: “They say they’ll make roads,
give us electricity. They’ve been saying these things for a while, but nothing
happens.”
Although there was scattered violence,
Nepal’s election commission declared the day a “historic success.” Former chief
election commissioner Bhojraj Pokharel attributed the high voter turnout to
Nepalis’ competitive spirit. “We love democracy,” he said. “Whether we
understand it is a different thing.”
Since the civil war ended in 2006, Nepalis
have twice elected assemblies to write a constitution. Local elections were
held for the first time in 20 years this summer. Now, for the first time, newly
created provincial governments will have significant power to oversee regional
development.
At the national level, the competition for
leadership in the parliamentary elections is between the Nepali Congress party,
led by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, and the Left Alliance, combining the
party of formerly insurgent Maoists and the Unified Marxist-Leninist party,
rivals just a few months ago in local elections.
The elections are being closely watched in
New Delhi and Beijing as Nepal’s giant neighbors wrestle for influence in the
region. The Left Alliance is capitalizing on anti-India sentiment after what
some Nepalis call a “blockade” by India in 2015 when the country was devastated
after the earthquake. India’s government has denied imposing a blockade. A
victory for the Left Alliance, observers say, could increase Chinese influence
in Nepal, where India has traditionally wielded diplomatic sway as a major
trading partner.
Voters’ hopes for a bright future seem
misguided to some. Levels of corruption in Nepal are among the highest in South
Asia, and politicians switch allegiances on a whim to form coalitions and vote
leaders in and out of government. Instability mars efforts to develop the
country’s infrastructure. Many villages are still not connected to road
networks, and 1 in 4 Nepalis live below the national poverty line.
Even the National Reconstruction Authority,
set up to manage emergency earthquake relief, was riven by infighting and
chaos, leaving rebuilding plans unfinished and billions of dollars in pledged
foreign donations untapped.
“Election manifestoes are whimsical and
unrealistic,” said Sudip Pokharel, director of the Democracy Resource Center,
an independent organization in Kathmandu that observes elections. “They promise
things like cable cars and WiFi for everyone when even basic needs are not met.
Politicians keep winning because of patronage networks, which means there is no
incentive for parties to think about their agendas.”
Even former prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal
acknowledged that the country is beset by “rampant corruption” as his car
hurtled through Kathmandu’s narrow streets. “There are many lacunas, loopholes,
and institutions that are not strong,” he said.
While political parties in the capital
continue to debate new procedures of governance, the Sherpas of Tempathang are
desperate for government support for infrastructure. Their village is virtually
cut off from cities for half the year during winter and the monsoon season.
Many of the Sherpas make a meager living rearing a yak-cow hybrid called dzo.
The nearest doctor is a six-hour walk down the mountain, and the village school
provides only primary education.
“We just have to trust them,” Nurbu Sherpa,
55, said of political parties. He was wearing an “I heart Nepal” baseball cap
in Tempathang and discussing politics the night before the elections. “They
know what’s good for the country.”
“You should demand basic things like
telephones, drinking water, health care and good schools,” replied Sonam
Sherpa, who spent his childhood in Tempathang but now works as a trekking guide
based in Kathmandu.
“A mobile tower is needed,” he said, noting
that villagers have to hike an hour to get a signal to make cellphone calls.
Nurbu and Sonam cast their ballots the
following morning.
Most of the villagers who trekked down from
Tempathang carried supplies on the return trip: flour, eggs, packets of chips.
Pashang Sherpa saddled himself with a large sack of rice as he prepared to make
the six-hour journey.
“I’ve taken care of my responsibility now,”
he said, “and I can go home.”
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