The Carter Center, which monitors elections globally, has applied to the Election Commission for monitoring the local level elections scheduled for May 14, although the commission has no policy of inviting international observers during the local elections.

According to officials at the commission, the Center,  founded by former US President Jimmy Carter, has requested the office of the EC to allow it to monitor the upcoming elections for the local level, provincial parliaments and the federal parliament.

The Center wrote to the EC two weeks earlier, according to an election official. 

The Center had monitored the two Constituent Assembly (CA) elections in 2008 and 2013. The former US president visited Nepal to observe the elections.

The Center, which had been active in Nepal since 2004 for the peace mission, was first invited in 2007 to observe the first CA elections. It maintained its presence in Nepal until early 2014. 

During its seven years in the country, the Carter Center prepared reports on Nepal’s transition with focus on implementation of the key peace process commitments and the progress in the constitution drafting process.

Surya Prasad Aryal, the information officer at the EC, told the Post on Sunday that the Carter Centre had first applied about six months ago, seeking to observe the local level elections.

The EC has said that was considering involving international election monitors and the Nepal-based foreign missions for the purpose of their “study”. 

“But, discussions are ongoing on how to involve them even for a study,” an official said. The Norwegian embassy and the USAID, the US aid agency, also inquired the election authority recently about how they could participate in the May polls, the EC official said.

The EC last week published a notice inviting interested domestic organisations to register within two weeks to observe the local elections.