Election Update! Cited as a huge success despite violence, murder and disruption in 33 polling centres, the remainder of the 20,889 polling stations reported good turnouts.

The Election Commissioner Bhoj Raj Pokhrel said that these numbers were far below what we had expected.

"Most of the results" he went on to say, "would be out within 10 days."

Yesterday two friends and I went for a ride which took us through fairly remote countryside and into the hills to the SW of the Kathmandu Valley. We were heading for a hydro-project dam at a place called Kulekhani.

There was very little happening on the road and we saw only a handful of jeeps heading south. It was the day before the elections. Nepal is voting for the first time in 12 years for the leaders who will re-write the nation's Constitution. There are many contenders and pretenders, but predominant are the red flags sporting hammers and sickles.

The weather was perfect, village folk were hanging around local polling stations chatting as we passed through numerous hamlets and villages. As our ride progressed and the sun went down - we were riding a long downhill road to the main highway back into Kathmandu, we passed 4 groups of young men, standing on corners on the winding hill road, some of them carried large bamboo sticks - lattis, a weapon of preference in these parts.

Several men stepped forwards to stop and check-us-out, but my friends rode on, avoiding a confrontation. Milo said he found it a bit scary and Adele, so engrossed in the ride, steamed straight through it all.

I stopped and spoke to 3 of the groups. The first group denied they were Maoists and when I suggested they were Nepal Congress supporters, in unison they claimed, "Yes yes, we are NC !" But we were riding through Dhading District where maoists, it's plain to see, have the upper-hand.

Switching my tactic as I rode further down, the other two groups were proud to confirm they were YCL (Youth Communist League). Some held lattis, others had kukuris in their belts - the curved knife found all over Nepal, all this despite the (un-policeable) government order, that nobody should carry weapons of any nature during the election time.

I generally introduce myself as ‘Peter from England', but this time added, "I’m an Independent Observer". There are hundreds of election observers here from so many foreign countries, though they are spread thinly, they are all over Nepal. though many are suspected by locals as being ‘stool pigeons’ in the pay of local opposition leaders.

It was dark and they crowded the bike, "Have you eaten rice?" I asked, "Yes", they replied.  "Then why are you on the highway after night fall?" “We’re just sitting chatting” they told me, ‘guff garne’ - gossiping.

Given the increasing spates of politically motivated violence countrywide, it's far more likely that they were guarding the road, to prevent opposition voters from entering the district to cast their votes. In the last 12 years of conflict tens of thousands of people have been displaced internally from their villages due to maoist threats of violence and many are still reluctant to return to their villages.

I asked the men if they 'would fight or disrupt the polls the following day', they assured me they wouldn't and that they would behave. I asked them if they thought the ‘tomorrow was going to be a good day’ and they all agreed that it was an important day. We exchanged 'stay nicely' 'go nicely', as one does in Nepal and I rode on.

There is a fragile detente between police and activists, often far outnumbered the police are reluctant to get involved in such encounters. Apart from a few police at polling stations we passed, we saw only one jeep of police the whole day.

Despite a slow puncture in Adele’s front tyre, we made it home by midnight, riding the last stage through the deserted streets of Kathmandu.

April 10th 2008 Election Day. Today in the online editions - traffic movement is banned today so there are no paper editions, the YCL and Maoists are reported to have captured polling booths, many booths, one was burnt down. Already two men have been reported shot dead.  In the far west of Nepal voting has been suspended for two days due to violence.

April 10th Sherap added...
"YCL hmmm... real YCL would pretend to be not YCL and fake YCL would pretend to be real. Anyway, telling them not to fight if good advice. I have just been cycling around with my camera and saw three polling booths. But very quiet and peaceful. Not far away, about 200m distant were army trucks with soldiers bearing arms. Really nice."