Kathmandu, December 14
The Left Alliance, the grouping of the major communist parties in Nepal, are celebrating a historic win in the recently-concluded parliamentary and provincial elections. Together, they have won 114 of the 165 FPTP seats, in the country’s federal Parliament. The alliance is also poised to win at least 70 of the 110 proportional representation votes, and the numbers would give them a clear majority to form the government.
But, the Left is unlikely to get the opportunity to form the new government anytime soon. The reason: political parties have elected too few women MPs than what the constitution demands.
That is the reason why, contrary to what the Left has been saying, the new government cannot be formed anytime soon. First, the members of the new House of Representatives cannot be named before names of the National Assembly members are finalised, and the new government can not be formed until the Lower House convenes. This, until today, was an issue overlooked by the political parties.
Here’s why:
According to the new constitution, at least 33 per cent of lawmakers in Nepal’s legislature (both the Houses) need to be women. But, only six women have won the first-past-the-post seats–Nepal’s House of Representatives has 275 seats, 110 of which are filled through the PR system.
So to comply with the 33 per cent rule, political parties need to nominate a high proportion of women candidates to the Upper House as well as pick similar number of women for the PR seats of the lower House. This becomes possible only when elections for the Upper House, whose electorate consists of provincial assembly members and heads of local governments, is concluded.
So why doesn’t the Election Commission conduct the Upper House elections right away? Well, the political parties failed to reach an agreement on a key bill that would determine the procedure for the election to take place. The Deuba government did prepare an ordinance, but the ordinance has been ‘stuck’ at the President’s Office awaiting approval.
The other reason why the National Assembly is needed immediately for the Lower House to convene is that according to the constitution, a joint session of both Houses needs to be convened after elections. Such a session needs to be addressed by the President.
The President seems to be withholding the National Assembly Elections ordinance as there is a controversy regarding a key provision. While the Nepali Congress has been lobbying for a single-transferable-vote system, the Left has been lobbying for a non-transferrable-vote system. The Deuba government’s ordinance has provisions for a single-transferable-vote system, but the President seems to have her doubts.
Looking at the constitutional provisions, there is no doubt that the process of forming the new government and completing the electoral process will be stuck until the Upper House is elected. The situation would have been different if more women contested and won the FPTP elections.
