Ruling Nepali Congress emerges as largest party

What’s in today’s article:

• Why in News?
• Electoral system in Nepal

 

Why in News?

• 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.

 

Federal election in Nepal

• 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.

 

How does the voting work?

• 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.

 

Forms of government in Nepal

• 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.

 

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