Kathmandu, October 29
Nepal’s major political parties have begun election-focused campaigns ahead of the next local and provincial elections, with preparations ranging from potential candidate selection and organisational mobilisation to public outreach programmes.
The terms of local representatives elected in 2022 are scheduled to end on May 13, 2027, while provincial assembly members’ terms are due to expire on November 19, 2027. With the elections approaching, parties are stepping up preparations, although the government and Election Commission have yet to announce election dates.
The ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has already opened applications for prospective local-level candidates through its Candidate Club initiative.
“We have started preparing for the elections in our own way,” said Nisha Dangi, the party’s joint general secretary. “We are opening Candidate Clubs for municipalities and rural municipalities.”
Applications opened on August 17, for those seeking to contest the positions of chairperson, vice-chairperson, ward chairperson and ward member in rural municipalities. For municipalities, sub-metropolitan cities and metropolitan cities, applications opened on October 16 for mayor, deputy mayor, ward chairperson and ward member positions.
The party is accepting applications through a mobile app. Applicants will have to undergo leadership development training and several stages of the selection process.
Alongside the candidate recruitment drive, the RSP has been assessing its organisational strength across the country. The party has conducted field assessments in 74 districts, with reports submitted to its central leadership.
Dangi said the party had initially aimed to reach all 77 districts and 753 local units before Dashain, but visits to Dolpa, Manang and Nuwakot were postponed.
The field reports will be shared with the Candidate Clubs, which will use them to bring prospective candidates together and advance the selection process through competition.
RSP leaders have also been alerting party workers to the possibility of local elections being held as early as February 2027.
“The Election Commission’s preparations suggest that local elections could take place as early as February, so we have alerted our workers accordingly,” Dangi said. “The government and the Election Commission will decide when the elections will be held. We have not called for them to be held earlier or later.”
NCP steps up grassroots campaign
The Nepali Communist Party (NCP) has launched a two-month national awareness campaign, scheduled to run until December 11. Preparing for the upcoming local and provincial elections is one of its key objectives.
Inaugurating the campaign on October 24, party coordinator Pushpa Kamal Dahal said that although the election schedule had not been announced, the upcoming polls had to be part of the party’s preparations.
According to party spokesperson Prakash Jwala, central leaders will visit villages, wards and neighbourhoods to engage directly with farmers, workers, young people, students, women and other members of the public.
The campaign aims to strengthen the party organisation, renew and expand membership, address internal problems and gather public grievances and demands.
“We will strengthen the party’s internal life, resolve problems within the organisation and renew and increase membership,” Jwala said. “At the same time, we will meet people, listen to their complaints and criticism, present our views and collect their demands. We will submit those demands to the relevant bodies and put pressure on them to address the issues.”
The party also plans to raise concerns about inflation, black marketing, insecurity and unemployment, while challenging what it considers shortcomings in government performance.
Jwala said the campaign would help the party expand its support base and bring it closer to the public. It would also give the party an opportunity to assess potential candidates by gauging their popularity and their ability to raise local concerns.
“During the campaign, we will get an idea of who is popular among the people, who raises their concerns and which candidates may be able to win,” he said.
Local and provincial-level meetings will review the campaign, with reports submitted to the central leadership. The party’s central committee will then discuss the findings and determine further election strategies.
Nepali Congress plans early candidate selection
The Nepali Congress and CPN-UML are also preparing for the elections through separate organisational campaigns.
Congress president Gagan Thapa has said the party intends to complete the preliminary process of selecting local-level candidates by December 2026 or January 2027.
Speaking at a programme in Syangja on October 26, Thapa said the party would avoid last-minute decisions over nominations.
“This time, it will not be like before, when tickets were sought, distributed or withdrawn two days, five days or even two hours before the election,” he said. “We will complete the preliminary work on candidates by December and January.”
According to Thapa, the party is preparing an initial list of candidates through digital voting by grassroots-level party workers. The list will then be reviewed at different levels before the final candidates are selected.
He said the party needed to finalise its candidates two to three months before the elections.
The Congress plans to designate November as a month for a party awareness campaign, with the central working committee preparing programmes to mobilise party workers. Election-focused activities are expected to intensify in December and January.
General Secretary Pradeep Paudel said the party would activate its organisational structures at every level to support its election campaign and help its candidates secure victory.
UML focuses on organisation and membership
The CPN-UML is also conducting election-oriented activities through its Mission Party Awareness campaign.
According to the party’s publicity department chief, Niraj Acharya, central leaders have been assigned to local units to oversee membership renewals, expand membership and prepare for the local elections.
The party has also scheduled a national gathering for November 18 and 19, which is expected to bring together around 3,600 senior party workers, including provincial, district and local committee office-bearers and elected representatives.
The UML is also restructuring its grassroots leadership through ward and local committee conventions. Ward committee conventions are scheduled for December 14, followed by local committee conventions on December 20.
The party held its previous ward and local committee conventions in October 2021 and subsequently converted the committees into organising committees ahead of the next round of conventions.
Acharya said the conventions would help revitalise the party organisation and build momentum for the local elections.
However, he stressed that the elections must be held in accordance with the Constitution and existing laws, regardless of the dates eventually announced.
On whether local and provincial elections could be held simultaneously, Acharya said the government had not yet made its position clear.
“Our concern is that the elections must be constitutionally valid,” he said. “Holding both elections together would require a constitutional amendment. Otherwise, the provincial assemblies would have to be dissolved, but the federal government does not have the authority to dissolve them. We cannot accept a process that violates the Constitution.”
