The government on Wednesday rejected the conclusions and recommendations of the report of European Union’s Election Observation Mission (EUEOM) on the recently concluded elections of the House of Representatives and Provincial Assemblies.

In a strongly-worded statement on Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said some of the recommendations and comments of the report not only undermine the successful conduct of smooth, peaceful and impartial elections, but also go against the scope and norms of international election observation.

“This violates the election code of conduct for international observers of the Election Commission as well as the provision of the memorandum of understanding signed between the Nepal government and the EU before the elections,” reads the MoFA statement.

MoFA further said, “The recommendations and comments are a direct challenge to the provision of the constitution which was promulgated, in line with the inclusive policy reflective of Nepali social structure, by the sovereign decision of Nepali people.”    

Making public the report, the mission on Tuesday had asked Nepal to consider removing Khas-Aryas from the inclusion quota under the proportional representation (PR) electoral system, saying that the community is already well represented.

“Review the impact of the quota system on the ethnic composition of the House of Representatives and Provincial Assemblies, and ensure the measures of affirmative action apply only to groups that are the subjects of negative discrimination,” the EU report said.