Ruling Nepali Congress emerges as largest party

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As the counting of votes under the direct system concluded in Nepal, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s Nepali Congress emerged as the largest party by winning 57 seats.
Elections to the House of Representatives (HoR) and seven provincial assemblies were held on November 20.
This election is crucial as political instability has been a recurrent feature of Nepal’s Parliament since the end of the decade-long Maoist insurgency.
- No prime minister has served a full term after the civil war ended in 2006.

Background of the Electoral system in Nepal

The new constitution passed in 2015 declared Nepal a federal state with three levels of government: federal, provincial and local.
Adult franchise and periodic election have been categorically stated in the preamble to the Constitution.
The Constitution provisioned different types of electoral system at local, provincial and federal level:
- First past the post (FPTP) system for the election of Local Level
  - FPTP system: Candidate with the highest number of votes in a constituency is declared the winner.
  - In proportional electoral system: allocation of seats on the basis of the votes secured by political parties
- The mixed electoral system (of first past the post and proportional representation) for the election of State Assembly and House of Representatives.
  - The use of two different electoral systems at the same time is known as mixed electoral system.

There are 334 members in the Federal Parliament, out of which the House of Representatives (HoR) has 275 members and the National Assembly (NA) has 59 members.
For federal election, Nepal has selected the mixed electoral system:
- The first past the post electoral system within plurality/majority electoral system and
- List-based proportional electoral system within the proportional electoral system.
  - Political parties submit the list of candidates to the election management body (the Election Commission in case of Nepal).
  - Political parries select the winning candidates based on the number of seats secured by them.

Each voter will be given two ballot papers for the two methods (FPTP and PR).
A party has to cross the election threshold of 3 percent of the overall valid vote to be allocated a seat under the PR method.

Federal parliament (HoR+NA) will elect a prime minister, who is the real executive head.
- The leader of the party that wins a simple majority is invited to form the government. A party or a coalition needs 138 seats for a clear majority.
- Members of the HoR are elected for a five-year term.
The National Assembly (NA) is a permanent body.
- 56 members chosen by an electoral college consisting of Provincial Assembly (PA) members and village and municipal executive members.
- Three members are nominated by the president.
- It has a term of six years, with one-third of its members retiring every two years on a rotational basis.
The president and vice president are constitutional posts with nominal power.
- They are elected by an electoral college formed by the HoR, NA and Provincial Assembly (PA) members.
The members of the PA choose chief ministers to run the respective provinces.
A total of 753 local units, spread across 77 districts in seven provinces, have been elected to run the village and municipal administration.