Kathmandu, March 20
With the submission of the report containing the results of the House of Representatives Elections held on March 5 to the Office of the President, the path has now opened for the formation of a new government.
Section 62 of the House of Representatives Election Act, 2017 stipulates that the final report, including election results, must be submitted to the President within one week of the announcement of the results.
It states: “The Commission shall submit the report, including the results of both the first-past-the-post and proportional representation systems, to the President within seven days of the declaration of the election results.”
Accordingly, on Thursday, Acting Chief Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari, along with other commissioners, submitted the report to the President. With the submission of the report, the way has been cleared to convene a session of Parliament and proceed with the formation of a new government.
After reviewing the report, President Ram Chandra Paudel will move forward with the process. The first step will be administering the oath of office to the newly elected members of Parliament.
The oath of the senior-most member is scheduled for 11:30 am on March 26.
According to the Election Commission, among those elected, Arjun Narsingh KC is the eldest at 78 years old. After taking the oath from the President, he will administer the oath to the other members on the same day. The process of forming a new government will then begin.
The report submitted to the President includes details such as the number of seats won by each party, which are directly related to government formation.
Six political parties have emerged as national parties from the election.
With 182 seats, the Rastriya Swatantra Party has become the largest party. Nepali Congress is second with 38 seats, UML third with 25 seats, and the Nepal Communist Party fourth with 17 seats.
The newly emerged Shram Sanskriti Party has secured 7 seats, making it the fifth largest party, while Rastriya Prajatantra Party stands sixth with 5 seats. There is also one independent candidate.
Article 76 of the Constitution outlines provisions for government formation. Accordingly, the President will assess whether a single-party government can be formed. Since the Rastriya Swatantra Party has secured nearly a two-thirds majority in this election, a single-party majority government will be formed under its leadership.
Article 76(1) of the Constitution states: “The President shall appoint the leader of the parliamentary party that commands a majority in the House of Representatives as the Prime Minister, and a Council of Ministers shall be formed under their leadership.”
For this, the President must now determine who the parliamentary party leader of the Rastriya Swatantra Party is. In other words, the party must select its parliamentary leader. The party plans to do so after the oath-taking on Chaitra 12.
Following the formation of the government, the President must also convene a session of Parliament. Article 93 of the Constitution requires the President to summon a session of the Federal Parliament within 30 days of the announcement of the final election results.
The President’s Office is preparing to convene the Federal Parliament session on March 30, and this message has already been informally communicated to political parties and the Federal Parliament Secretariat.
