2017 Nepalese general election
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All 275 seats in the House of Representatives 138 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Registered | 15,427,731 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turnout | 10,587,521 (68.63%) 9.71pp | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Results by constituency | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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General elections were held in
The election was held alongside the first provincial elections for the seven provincial assemblies.
A political deadlock between the governing
Following the announcement of the final result by the
Background
The
The Interim Legislature was followed by the
A five-member Constituency Delineation Commission was formed under the chairmanship of former Supreme Court Justice Kamal Narayan Das to redraw the constituency boundaries to 165, a reduction from the 240 used in the 2013 elections. It submitted its report to the government on 30 August 2017.[5] The boundaries set by this commission will remain unchanged for the next 20 years as per Article 286 (12).
Electoral system
The 275 members of the legislature were elected by two methods; 165 were elected from single-member constituencies by
Nepal uses the Sainte-Laguë method to allocate proportional seats. Typically, the divisors under this system include all odd numbers (1, 3, 5, 7...). But in Nepal, the first divisor is 1.4, rather than 1. This is intended to make it difficult for smaller parties to get a single seat "too cheaply" as the system benefits smaller parties at the expense of larger ones.
Eligibility to vote
To vote in the general election, one must be:[8]
- on the electoral roll
- aged 18
- a citizen of Nepal
- of sound mind
- not ineligible as per federal election fraud and punishment laws
Timetable
The key dates are listed below
19 August | Last day to register to be on electoral roll[9] |
21 August | Cabinet announces election date |
27 August | Last day for party registration at Election Commission[10] |
30 August | Election code of conduct starts |
14 October | Tenure of Legislature parliament ends |
15 October | Parties submit preliminary closed list for proportional representation |
22 October | Candidate nomination for first phase of first past the post |
2 November | Candidate nomination for second phase of first past the post |
19 November | Closed list for proportional representation finalized and published |
26 November | Election day (first phase) – polling centres open 07:00 to 17:00 |
7 December | Election day (second phase) – polling centres open 07:00 to 17:00 |
14 February | Final result announced and presented to President |
Parties and alliances
A total of 88 parties were granted ballot access under the proportional system. However, only 49 parties submitted list of proportional candidates.[11]
Left alliance
A left alliance comprising the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist), the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) and the Naya Shakti Party was announced with party unification to follow after the elections.[12] However, Naya Shakti Party left the alliance after its coordinator Baburam Bhattarai was not guaranteed an election ticket from his preferred constituency of Gorkha. He subsequently switched alliances in Gorkha. Other leftist parties like Rastriya Janamorcha and Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist–Leninist) had also joined this alliance in some constituencies.[13]
Democratic alliance
An alliance consisting of the center-left
Madhesh alliance
After two Madhesh based parties, Federal Socialist Forum, Nepal and Rastriya Janata Party Nepal left the alliance due to differences on seat sharing, they formed an alliance on their own and fielded in elections.
Conduct
Before the final phase of the election, starting 5 December, the border with India was closed at 22 points.
Results
Five parties, CPN (Unified Marxist-Leninst), Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Centre), Rastriya Janata Party and Federal Socialist Forum, won at least one seat in first-past-the-post voting and crossed the three percent in proportional voting and were represented in the parliament. Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Naya Shakti Party, Rastriya Janamorcha and Nepal Workers Peasants Party did not reach the three percent threshold in proportional voting and were represented as independents in the parliament.
Patriotic People's Republican Front, Nepal 13,942 | 0.15 | 0 | 19,884 | 0.20 | 0 | 0 | | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nepal Janata Party | 9,310 | 0.10 | 0 | 3,387 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Janashakti Nepal | 7,981 | 0.08 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||
Aamul Pariwartan Masiha Party Nepal | 5,161 | 0.05 | 0 | 793 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Rastriya Mukti Andolan Nepal | 4,275 | 0.04 | 0 | 1,550 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Nepa Rastriya Party | 3,460 | 0.04 | 0 | 206 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Nepal Loktantrik Janata Congress | 2,389 | 0.03 | 0 | 815 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Churebhavar Loktantrik Party | 2,170 | 0.02 | 0 | 475 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Green Party Nepal | 1,685 | 0.02 | 0 | 334 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Nepal Samabeshi Party | 1,676 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||
Nepali Congress (B.P.) | 1,608 | 0.02 | 0 | 2,679 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Nepalwad | 1,547 | 0.02 | 0 | 37 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Nepal Sukumbasi Party (Democratic) | 1,456 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||
Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist) | 1,420 | 0.01 | 0 | 1,440 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Tamangsaling Loktantrik Party | 1,397 | 0.01 | 0 | 77 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Nepal Yuwa Kisan Party | 1,334 | 0.01 | 0 | 1,033 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Rastriya Samajwadi Party, Nepal | 1,053 | 0.01 | 0 | 366 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Nepal Darshan | 1,052 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||
Rastriya Yatharthawadi Party, Nepal | 977 | 0.01 | 0 | 502 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Nepal Naulo Janwadi Party | 976 | 0.01 | 0 | 75 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Rastriya Shiva Sena Party–Rastriya Nagarik Party[c] | 946 | 0.01 | 0 | 182 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Yuwa Nepal Party | 872 | 0.01 | 0 | 137 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Nepal Dalit Party | 834 | 0.01 | 0 | 1,092 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Sanghiya Khumbuwan Democratic Party Nepal | 744 | 0.01 | 0 | 408 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Deshbhakta Loktantrik Party | 740 | 0.01 | 0 | 1,289 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Janaprajatantrik Party, Nepal | 721 | 0.01 | 0 | 138 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Liberal Democratic Party | 519 | 0.01 | 0 | 259 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Deshbhakta Samaj | 434 | 0.00 | 0 | 92 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Hamro Party | 426 | 0.00 | 0 | 89 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Nepal Loktantrik Janata Congress | 815 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||
Bahujan Samaj Party Nepal | 708 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||
Dalit, Muslim Janashakti Party | 544 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||
Rastriya Yatharthabadi Party Nepal | 502 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||
Lok Kalyankari Janta Party Nepal | 496 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||
Rastriya Samajbadi Party Nepal | 366 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||
Madhesh Terai Forum | 152 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||
Nepali Greens | 78 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||
Muskan Sena Nepal | 22 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||
Independents | 73,243 | 0.73 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
Total | 9,544,744 | 100.00 | 110 | 10,045,555 | 100.00 | 165 | 275 | ||||||||
Valid votes | 9,544,744 | 90.15 | |||||||||||||
Invalid/blank votes | 1,042,777 | 9.85 | |||||||||||||
Total votes | 10,587,521 | 100.00 | |||||||||||||
Registered voters/turnout | 15,427,731 | 68.63 | |||||||||||||
Source: Election Commission, Kathmandu Post |
- ^ Contested jointly with the Samajbadi Janata Party and Janajagaran Party, Nepal in the proportional vote.
- ^ Ran separately in the FPTP vote; CPN (Marxist–Leninist) received 69,115 votes and the Jana Samajbadi Party, Nepal 13,067.
- ^ Ran separately in the FPTP vote; Rastriya Shiva Sena Party received 157 votes and Rastriya Nagarik Party 25.
Major losses
These losses were mainly the result of formation of
Still, these alliances resulted in the loss of the Nepali Congress which obtained highest number of votes in FPTP, gaining nearly 36% votes cast.
In spite of this, the result went against Nepali Congress and they could not win any more than 23 seats, making it the third largest party per FPTP results. As such, many sitting ministers had to lose their seats.
Surprisingly, Bam Dev Gautam and Narayan Kaji Shrestha lost their elections even though the Communist alliance nearly obtained a majority.
Outgoing Deputy Prime Minister to lose in the election
- Energy (Makwanpur 1) Rastriya Prajatantra Party
- Education (Syangja 2) Nepali Congress
Outgoing Cabinet Ministers to lose in the election
- Industry (Dhankutta 1) Rastriya Prajatantra Party
- Labour and Employment (Bara 3) Nepali Congress
- Brikam Bahadur Thapa - Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare Development (Kathmandu 6) Rastriya Prajatantra Party
- Deepak Bohora - Minister for Health (Rupandehi 3) Rastriya Prajatantra Party
- Bir Bahadur Balayar - Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transportation (Doti 1) Nepali Congress
- Gopal Dahit - Minister for Land Reform and Management (Bardiya 2) Nepali Congress
- Mohan Bahadur Basnet - Minister for Information and Communications (Sindhupalchowk 1) Nepali Congress
- Agricultural Development (Dhanusha 2) Nepali Congress
- Water Supply and Sanitation (Dhanusha 4) Nepali Congress
- Ambika Basnet - Minister for Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation (Kathmandu 3) Nepali Congress
- Bikram Pandey - Minister of Forests and Soil Conservation (Chitwan 3) Rastriya Prajatantra Party
Former Deputy Prime Ministers to lose in the election
- Ram Chandra Paudel (Nepali Congress)- Former Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal -lost from Tanahun 1 of Gandaki Province
- Province no 2
- Narayan Kaji Shrestha (CPN(Maoist Centre))-Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal from 2011 to 2011 -lost from Gorkha 1 of Bagmati Province
- Bamdev Gautam (CPN(UML))- Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal from 2008 to 2009 and 2014-2015 -lost from Bardiya 1 of Lumbini Province
Aftermath
The governing Nepali Congress preferred the upper house to be elected by Single Transferable Voting System while the left parties preferred majority vote. Lack of consensus meant the Legislature Parliament disbanded on 14 October, as required by the constitution, without approving National Assembly Election Bill which included provisions to elect members of the upper house.[20]
According to Article 84 (8) of the Constitution of Nepal, at least one third of the total number of members elected to the Federal Parliament from each party must be women. Citing this provision, the Election Commission withheld announcing final results as the number of women each party needs to submit from their respective party lists could not be determined until the number of women in the upper house from each party was confirmed.
The government sent the National Assembly Election Ordinance to the President on 23 October 2017 with the provision that the upper house be elected using Single Transferable Voting System.[21] The ordinance was held by the president for two months citing lack of consensus, but was ultimately approved on 29 December 2017.[22] Another delay occurred because the electoral college for the election of the upper house includes members of the State Assemblies who, due to the absence of Chiefs of State, had not been able to take the oath of office until late January.
See also
References
- ^ "Govt decides to hold provincial, parliamentary polls in two phases". The Himalayan Times. International Media Network Nepal (Pvt) Ltd. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
- ^ Baral, Biswas. "Why Nepal Is Still Caught in a Political Deadlock Over the Formation of Its New Government". The Wire. Foundation for Independent Journalism. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- ^ "प्रधानमन्त्री ओलीका पक्षमा ७५ प्रतिशत सांसद". Setopati. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
- ^ Article 296 Constitution of Nepal
- ^ Giri, Sanjeev. "CDC submits its report with 165 electoral constituencies". The Kathmandu Post. Kantipur Publications. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
- ^ Article 84 Constitution of Nepal
- ^ Kafle, Narayn (5 September 2017). "संसद् र प्रदेशको निर्वाचन विधेयक पारित". Gorkhapatra. Gorkhapatra Sansthan. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
- ^ "Electoral Roll Act, 2017". Article 6 & 23, Act No. 23 of 2 February 2017 (PDF) (in Nepali). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 September 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
- ^ "प्रेश विज्ञप्ति" [Press release] (Press release) (in Nepali). Kathmandu: Election Commission. Retrieved 2017-09-03.
- ^ "दल दर्ता गर्न आयोगमा ९५ वटा निवेदन". Gorkhapatraonline. Gorkhapatra Sansthan. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
- ^ "49 parties file closed list of PR candidates". The Himalayan Times. International Media Network Nepal (Pvt) Ltd. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
- ^ "Art of the impossible". Himalmedia. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
- ^ "बाम गठबन्धनलाई जनमोर्चाले सघाउने". Nagarik News. Nepal Republic Media. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ^ Dangal, Dhruba. "लोकतान्त्रिक गठबन्धनमा उत्साह". NagarikNews. Nepal Republic Media. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
- ^ "NC, RPP say alliance intact savefor Jhapa-3". The Himalayan Times. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
- ^ "Nepal closes border with India for 72 hours ahead of December 7 elections". Hindustan Times. New Delhi. 5 December 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
- ^ Ghimire, Yubaraj. "Bomb attacks rock landmark Nepal polls". The Indian Express. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
- ^ "NC aggrieves death of temporary police in blast in Dang". The Himalayan Times. International Media Network Nepal (Pvt) Ltd. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
- ^ Bohara, Rameshwar. "विष्फोट श्रृंखलाः के सरकारमाथि नै शंका गर्नुपर्ने हो ?". Himal Khabar. Himalmedia Pvt. Ltd. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
- ^ "संसदको आयु सकिएसँग १९ विधेयक पनि निश्क्रिय". Dainik Nepal. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- ^ Row over National Assembly drags on Myrepublica
- ^ "President authenticates National Assembly Election Ordinance". My Republica. Retrieved 1 January 2018.