Climate change and natural disasters threaten voting rights: Nepal's Prime Minister Oli | World News

Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Wednesday stressed that unpredictable weather patterns and natural disasters, exacerbated by climate change, could pose a significant threat to citizens' ability to exercise their right to vote, and underscored the need for election officials to adapt and ensure the integrity of democratic processes.

“Issues such as climate change, migration, the rise of social media and the role of artificial intelligence are critical to our democracies,” Oli said at the opening of the 12th Conference of the Forum of Election Administrative Bodies of South Asia (FEMBOSA).

“The movement of people across borders and within our countries has profound implications for electoral rolls, voter identification and the right to vote,” Oli said at the two-day conference on “New trends in elections: climate change, social media and migration.”

Oli noted that social media and artificial intelligence are revolutionising the way politicians engage with voters and conduct elections. While these tools offer unprecedented outreach and participation opportunities, they also bring risks such as misinformation, disinformation, fake news and manipulation that could undermine trust in our democratic institutions, he said.

(Only the headline and image of this report may have been edited by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)