Diplomatic Slip

Diplomatic Slip

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

Issuing the official statement signed by the spokesperson of the ministry on March 21, 2018, Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali has been very blunt to the report the European Union’s Election Observation Mission (EUEOM) has made public in a press conference held on March 20, 2018. Any mission has practically the rights to say whatever it deems necessary to say in its report; it does not mean that the foreign minister needs to take it as it is. He could discuss it with the concerned mission members and persuade them to change whatever the recommendations and comments he felt needed to be altered based on the facts and figures rather than on emotion.

So, the foreign minister does not need to be nervous about what the EUEOM has written and said. He could not be as straight as dealing with other comrades and the Nepalis that had been under the despotic rule and that had been used to the subjugation of the State staffers for several centuries. However, he is dealing with the diplomats and foreign agency that has shown good will to Nepal so far.

So, the foreign minister could have dealt with the problems of the recommendations and comments the EUROM made that he did not like diplomatically rather than issuing the statement that has gone far beyond the diplomatic norms. As one of the Nepalis that have inherited the culture of politeness that our ancestors had set several millenniums ago, the foreign minister needed to be polite in any circumstances.

However, anybody could guess how strong Foreign Minister Gyawali has been after the provincial and federal elections is demonstrated by the following statement the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued on the report of the European Union’s Election Observation Mission (EUEOM):

“Serious attention of the Government of Nepal has been drawn towards the conclusions and recommendations of the ‘Final Report on the House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly Elections’ released yesterday by the European Union’s Election Observation Mission (EUEOM) to Nepal.

Some of the recommendations and comments of the Report not only undermine the successful holding of smooth peaceful and impartial elections but also go against the scope and norms of the international observation. This violates the Election code of Conduct for International Observers of the Election Commission as well as the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Government of Nepal and the European Union before the elections.

These recommendations and comments are a direct challenge to the provisions of the Constitution of Nepal, which was promulgated in line with the inclusive policy reflective of Nepali social structure by the sovereign decision of the Nepali people. It is unfortunate that the report has made unwarranted comments about political issues that have already been settled. The Government of Nepal calls upon all the concerned refrain from making such uncalled-for comments.

The government of Nepal strongly believes that historic elections of House of Representatives and the Provincial Assemblies, which saw high turnout of voters, were the reflection of Nepali people’s long cherished aspirations for democracy, progress and stability. The elections were a milestone in terms of the implementation of the Constitution as well as the conclusion of the Nepal’s peace process.

Spokesperson

Ministry of foreign affairs

Kathmandu

21 March 2018”

In a statement issued in Kathmandu on Thursday, March 22, 2018, the Election Commission rejected the report of the European Union’s Election Observation Mission (EUEOM) stating that the report and the press statement the organization issued has been misleading, baseless and against the international election observation code of conduct, the news in “gorkhapatra” stated on March 23, 2018.

The EC’s statement also has said that the report of the EUEOM has gone against the Memorandum of Understanding between the EUEOM and the EC signed on October 24, 2017, and the report has gone against the code of conduct included in the MOU; and the EC would be serious about giving an approval to the election observers in the future, the news in “gorkhapatra” stated on March 23, 2018.

On March 22, 2018, the EUEOM in turn has issued a statement as follows:

“On March 20, 2018, Zeljana Zovko, chief Observer of the EU EOM, presented the final report on the House of Representatives and the provincial assembly elections. The EU EOM concluded in its report that the legal framework for the elections offers a good basis for the conduct of elections. Despite some shortcomings identified in the process, the EU EOM also welcomed the efforts made by the Election Commission to organize the elections within a very tight timeframe.

As it is standard practice for international election observation missions, the report offers recommendations, which included the review of administrative practices, legislation and constitutions. In so doing, the EU EOM fully abided by its terms of reference and the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the authorities of Nepal. The assessment and recommendations in the EU EOM’s final report are based on international and regional commitments for democratic elections to which Nepal is a signatory. The suggested recommendations were widely consulted and discussed at a roundtable on 28 December 2017.

All recommendations are offered by the EU EOM in a spirit of partnership, for the consideration of the host country. It remains up to the appreciation of the Nepalese authorities and people to decide on the terms of their Constitution and legislative framework. We look forward to further discussions with all stakeholders.

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Sarah Fradgley: EU EOM Press office

Mobile 9801237603”

Clearly, the foreign minister has slipped his first step in the diplomatic mission. It is pardonable for the first time, as he is the novice in the foreign affairs. However, repetition of such blunders would not be forgivable in the future.

Speaking at the event to make public the report of National Election Monitoring Committee on the elections to the House of Representatives and Provincial Assemblies in Kathmandu on March 25, 2018, Prime Minister KP Oli urged the EU mission to correct its report on the election observation and even went on charging the EU of relegating Nepal to bad treatment because of its poverty, and the EU report has been vindictive because the government had sent back two missionaries in the guise of election observers had engaged in religious conversion; and finally, Prime Minister Oli said that the EU report has undermined the sovereignty of Nepal.  The news on http://therisingnepal.org.np/news/22678, and “gorkhapatra” stated on March 26, 2018. 

Making a mountain out of a molehill, Prime Minister Oli has been souring the relations with the EU, and demonstrated how immature he has been diplomatically. He even linked the report on the election monitoring to the sovereignty of the country. Actually, Prime Minister Oli has put the relations with the EU at risk going head-on confrontation with the EU. He could have doused the diplomatic fire the foreign minister has ignited; however, he added fuel to the fire.

The western political analysts have been saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping has put the political clock back making himself eligible for the lifetime president after the Thirteenth National People's Congress amended the Chinese constitution removing the two-term limit of the president in March 2018. However, the Chinese media and the officials never took any troubles to say anything like interferences in the internal affairs of China.

Similarly, stating the opposition was not allowed to compete fairly in the election, the western media and politicians adversely commented on the Russian presidential election held on March 18, 2018 in which President Vladimir Putin won with a huge majority. However, President Putin did not comment on such comments. The then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also had severely criticized the previous Russian presidential election in which also Putin won the presidency six years ago. However, allegedly Putin did not publicly say anything rather went on engaging in using whatever possible tools he could use for defeating Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election held in November 2016.

Democrats have been saying that the Donald Trump campaign colluded with the Russians to defeat Hillary Clinton; however, President Donald Trump has been denying it. The US deputy attorney general appointed Robert Mueller to investigate the allegations that whether the Trump campaign has actually colluded with the Russians or not. If the findings of Robert Mueller were to be positive then the folks involved in the collusion would face criminal charges.

In December 2016, the administration of President Barack Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats alleging that they have been involved in the hacking of the US Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton campaign during the 2016 presidential election; however Russians denied it.

On March 26, the UK, EU, US, Canada, and Australia expelled Russian diplomats from their respective foreign countries in retaliation to the Russians allegedly poisoning former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter. On March 4, Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious at a park in Salisbury. The UK government alleged that the Russians used “Novichok:" a powerful Soviet-era chemical nerve agent for poisoning Skripal and his daughter.

Going back to the election observation report of the EU EOM, why the Oli government and the CPN-UML and NC have to be so nervous about the report that has simply said the election should be transparent and the “khas Arya” should be removed from the reservation status. Probably, the report might be correct; if not then the Foreign Ministry officials could quietly disproved what the report said.

Talking to the anchor of the Radio Nepal morning program “antar-sambad” on March 27, 2018, former Nepalese representative to UN Jayaraj Acharya said that the secretary to the Ministry of Affairs needed to tell the EU EOM that the report was not acceptable. Acharya was correct to say so that the government needed not overblown the issue of the election observation report.

Updated on March 27, 2018