Nepal 2013 CA Proportional
Representation List Nominations,
Key Political Party
Leaders, Contesting Political Parties
& Total Number
of PR Seats by Parties
Keith D.
Leslie
Indus
Institute
December 19th,
2013
Status of the PR Seat Nominations
The deadline
to submit PR nominations for Nepal’s new Constituent Assembly was originally December
10th, but only five parties submitted their names before that date. These
included RPP-Nepal, Rastriya Janamorcha Nepal, Nepal Pariwar Dal, Samajwadi
Janata Dal and Khmbuwan Rastriya Morcha.
Finally by December
10th, 11 of the 30 parties that won PR seats submitted their candidates’ names
to the EC. Of the 122 parties that contested
the election under the PR system, only 30 secured seats in the CA on the basis
of the total votes they received in the election.
However, none
of the major parties finalized their PR names by the first Election Commission
(EC) deadline. The NC, with the maximum seats, requested the EC for an
extension. Consequently, the EC revised the deadline to December 18th. Based on that revised schedule, the final name
lists of PR candidates would have been approved by the EC on December 21st. Then the EC would have submitted the
list of winning candidates to the President’s Office by December 23rd.
The Maoist party also stated that it would not submit their PR list names until an
independent commission is formed to investigate into election irregularities
that the party claimed occurred across the country. UCPN-M Chairman
Pushpa Kamal Dahal officially requested the EC to extend the PR deadline a second time
during the High Level Political Committee (HLPC) meeting. He noted that the UCPN-M could not finalize
their list of the candidates within the December 18th deadline.
The HLPC
political parties then formally requested the EC to extend the deadline again
for seven more days. The EC has now given the next PR candidate deadline
as December 25th, 2013.
Missing Deadlines: With the PR lists still incomplete and
the membership of the new CA unresolved, the public may begin to doubt political
leaders' ability or commitment to ensure a new constitution on time. The major
parties´ inability to meet their agreed timeline was one of the major reasons
why the first CA failed to produce a constitution -- even after extending the
CA tenure for four years. Now, one
month after the November 19th CA election, the major political parties have
shown the same tendency.
Commentators have
expressed their concern about the political parties´ second request to the EC
to extend the PR deadline. Clearly, the EC cannot work effectively as an
independent constitutional body unless it is able to exert pressure on the
parties to act on time.
IC Article 69: If the political parties
do not submit the names of their PR candidates to the EC, this could invite
potential legal complications. The
Interim Constitution Article 69 states that the first CA meeting must be
summoned by the prime minister within 21 days after the EC publishes the final
results. But the EC is uncertain whether
they can constitutionally finalize the results without the names of all of the
PR candidates. Lawyers have raised the
question if the election results can be considered ‘final’ if the UCPN-M and
other parties did not submit their final PR lists to the EC within the extended
deadline.
Some parties have also
objected to amending IC Article 69 to pave way for the first CA meeting.
Article 69 says that the prime minister will call the first meeting of the CA
within 21 days of the final election results. However, as the GoN is chaired by
Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi, who is not the prime minister, the President’s
office is preparing to amend the Interim Constitution so that the head of state
can call the first meeting of the new CA. An all-party consensus may be needed
for such an amendment.
Further CA Delay: Newly-elected FPTP CA
members are beginning to be concerned about the delay in setting the date for
the official opening of the CA. CA members have approached the Parliamentary
Secretariat to request a date for convening the CA. The uncertainty one month
after the election has raised questions about the maturity and decision-making
power of the major political parties. The longer it takes the HLPC to forge a
political consensus or decide upon the basis of a new government, the longer it
will take to call the second CA into session.
According to the IC Article
69, the new CA has to be called into existence no more than 21 days after the
EC officially forwards the names of the winning candidates, therefore, given
the recent delays, the earliest the CA will be called to order will be in
mid-January 2014.
Parliamentary Secretariat: The
Parliamentary-Secretariat said that preparations are in place to conduct the
first CA meeting emphasizing the need of convening the CA meeting as soon as
possible after the completion of CA election. The Secretariat has also reviewed
its past performance, CA and Legislature-Parliament regulations and
shortcomings to try to better perform in the next CA.
EC Requirements for PR Nominations
While
finalizing their PR lists, the EC has reminded the parties that the Interim Constitution
election-related Article 63 requires them to select at least 50% women, 13%
Dalits, 37% indigenous nationalities and oppressed groups as well as 30.2%
seats to Brahmin, Chhetris and Thakuris. Likewise, 5% seats are allocated for
backward districts, e.g. Achham, Kalikot, Jajarkot, Jumla, Dolpa, Bajhang, Mugu
and Humla.
If the parties
violate these PR provisions, the EC has said it will ask them to correct the
mistakes within three days. The inclusive provisions, however, only formally applies
to parties that fielded candidates for 100% of the seats under the PR system.
Recently,
given the delays, the EC repeated its concern about the potential under-representation
of women in the CA as a result of their smaller share in the FPTP polls. The EC requested major parties to select at
least 50% women for their PR seats. The IC provisions 33% nomination (not
necessarily selection) of women in the CA.
Therefore the EC has stated that if the parties do not meet the IC inclusive
standards, the EC retains the right to make changes to the party lists to make
the CA inclusive.
If
the EC acts on the percentage of women, will it also take action on the Article
63 (4) required “proportional inclusion” of Dalits, indigenous groups and other
historically marginalized communities.
Political Party PR Nominations
NC: NC leaders likely
to be selected under the PR include: party Treasurer Chitra Lekha Yadav and
Central Working Committee members Gopal Man Shrestha, Kul Bahadur Gurung, Dil
Bahadur Garti, Minendra Rijal, Sujata Koirala, Prakash Saran Mahat, Pradeep
Giri, Manmohan Bhattarai, Narendra Bikram Nembang, Ananda Dhungana, Gynendra
Bahadur Karki, Mahendra Yadav, Min Bahadur Bishowkarma, Badri Pandey, Dhan Raj
Gurung, Sujata Pariyar and Man Bahadur Bishowkarma.
However, NC second-tier leaders
demanded the Central Working Committee (CWC) discuss the party's PR
candidates. They expressed concern that
Sushil Koirala, Sher Bahadur Deuba and Ram Chandra Poudel nominated many of the
PR candidates from their own constituencies. Koirala forwarded more than six
from his Banke-3 and Chitwan-4 constituencies, as did Poudel and. Other influential leaders like Prakash Man
Singh, Krishna Prasad Sitaula and Ram Saran Mahat have presented their own
lists.
These NC leaders, including
Mahesh Acharya, Narahari Acharya, Gagan Thapa, Mahendra Yadav, Shankar
Bhandari, Arjun Joshi, Dhanraj Gurung, Jeevan Pariyar, Badri Pandey and Chandra
Bhandari told their leadership to run the NC by due process. They insisted upon
clear PR criteria for candidate and requested the party give priority to new
people, not those who served as CA members under the PR category previously --
unless their contribution is essential for the new CA, as well. They noted that if evidence was found that a
party member helped defeat a party candidate that person must not be given a PR
seat. Stating the party was marred by factional feuding, they demanded that the
leadership end the practice of sharing seats among the top leaders and
establish a system of taking institutional decisions.
The younger leaders suggested
nominating 60% women and 23% Dalits and ensure representation for the 23 districts
where the party did not win any seat under the FPTP electoral system, as well
as nominate candidates from conflict victims and martyr's families, plus those
below 35 years of age.
These second-tier leaders told
the senior leaders not to invite them to meetings merely to fulfill a
formality. They insisted that NC leaders must obtain the Central Working
Committee's mandate on national issues and advised them not to delay opening
the CA in the name of building consensus as that would convey a negative
message to the people. They also criticized the party leadership for their
flexibility on the formation of a parliamentary panel to investigate “vote
rigging” saying that such a panel would raise questions about the legitimacy of
the polls.
UML: UML Chairman
Jhala Nath Khanal proposed nomination of half of the total PR candidates from
the UML Central Committee, central departments and local committees,
considering their contribution to the party, expertise in constitution writing,
as well as women and candidates from excluded communities and less privileged
cadres. Khanal specifically proposed selecting 50% of the candidates from the Party´s
central bodies and the remaining half from its lower committees. But the Party
removed the 50% provision and entrusted the Standing Committee with exercising
flexibility over the percentage ratio between the central and lower
bodies. The party says it will select
members ensuring all 75 districts are represented.
RPP-N: The Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal has finalized
its list for PR candidates in the new CA.
The party has recommended 24 names to the EC as per the decision of
party Central Committee, according to the party's general secretary Chandra
Bahadur Gurung. The 24 candidates are Bikram Bahadur Thapa, Bhaskar Bhadra, Ram
Kumar Subba, Sushil Kumar Shrestha, Shayandra Bantawa, Ms. Kunti Kumari Shahi, Dinesh Shrestha, Dilnath Giri, Leeladevi
Shrestha, Resham Bahadur Lama, Ganga Prasad Yadav, Kamaladevi Sharma, Biraj
Bista, Ms. Babina Moktan Lawati, Ms. Rejeshwori Devi, Dhano Mahara, Shyam
Sundar Tiwadewal, Sita Luitel (Gyawali), Shreekanti Pasi, Kanta Bhattarai, Raj
Kumar Agrawal, Ram Dulari Chaudhary and Bhakta Bahadur Bishwakarma (Khapangi).
FDA: Sixteen political parties
of the Federal Democratic Alliance (FDA) led by the UCPN-M threatened not to
submit the names of candidates for PR seats if the GoN failed to form a
committee to probe irregularities in the November 19th election. The parties said
the votes were rigged and criticized the major parties for not taking their
demands seriously.
The FDA has
now agreed, however, to submit their PR lists by December 25th. But Madhesi members
noted that if the major parties went against the understanding of investigating
the election irregularities, they would cancel their plans to submit their PR
lists by that date
The FDA
includes the UCPN (Maoist), Tarai-Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP), Madhesi
People´s Rights Forum Nepal (MPRF-N), Federal Socialist Party Nepal (FSP-N),
SP, Tarai-Madhes Sadbhavana Party, MPRF-Republican, Tharuhat Tarai Party,
Sanghiya Loktantrik Rastriya Manch, Rastriya Janamukti Party and Federal
Sadbhavana Party.
FSP: The Federal Socialist Party (FSP), after threatening to
boycott the CA, has decided to join. The FSP failed to win direct (FPTP) seats
in the CA election, but secured 5 seats under the PR category. FSP cadre are pressing their party leadership
to personally stay out of the CA since sending the present leaders would leave
no space for local and regional cadre who made important contributions. Second
tier party members have told the FSPN senior leadership to sincerely accept the
harsh poll results and seriously retrospect on the party’s disastrous election
performance
RJM: The Rastriya Janamorcha will send Chairman Chitra Bahadur
KC (71), Vice Chairperson Ms. Durga
Paudel (42) and Ms. Meena Pun (40) to
the CA for its 3 PR seats. The party garnered 92,387 votes under the PR, but no
seat under the FPTP. They submitted a
list of 100 PR candidates at the EC. In the first CA, the party had 4 seats, 1
from the FPTP and 3 from the PR.
Two PR Seat Parties
Tharuhat Terai Party-Nepal
selected its party leaders Gopal Dahit and Ms.
Ganga Tharu (Satgauwa).
Rastriya Janamukti Party
submitted the names of its 2 candidates, but its application was not accepted
since there were some “discrepancies” in the party’s application.
One PR Seat
Parties
Ø
Nepa Rastriya Party: Laxman
Rajbansi
Ø
Janajagaran Party: Lokmani
Dhakal
Ø
Akhanda Nepal Party: Kumar
Khadka
Ø
Madhes Samata Party: Betan
Mukhiya
Ø
Sanghiya Loktantrik Rastriya Manch (Tharuhat): Ms. Rukmini Chaudhari
CA Election-Related
Issues
HLPC: The HLPC member
parties agreed to extend the HLPC term until the new government is formed. The HLPC leadership will shift to NC
President Sushil Koirala from Dahal who has headed the HLPC until now based on
the recent election results.
The NC Parliamentary
Party decided that all political issues should be solved by the High Level
Political Committee (HLPC) until the first CA meeting is called. The NC concluded
that the cross-party mechanism of major political forces, including UCPN-M, NC,
CPN-UML and Madhesi parties should take charge over contentious issues until CA
starts its operations.
UML leaders, however, have said the HLPC ’s relevance and legitimacy has ended with
the election of the new CA and that there is no need to continue the HLPC that
has already been criticized for being “extra-constitutional” and imposing a
“four-party syndicate.” The UML insisted that if the HLPC continues as a parallel body it would
inevitably intervene into the affairs of the CA.
PR Flaw: A serious
flaw in the current PR electoral law is that parties are not required to list
their ranked PR lists before the election.
If such ranked lists had been provided before the election, the
selection of winning candidates would have been taken directly from the
pre-selected lists. But because the PR lists aren’t ranked, there is now such intense
competition which delays to the formation of a government. By not pre-listing,
senior party leaders also exert excessive control over PR selections. The selected
candidates know to whom they owe their seat and will have to demonstrate
loyalty to their party boss which will undermine their independence in the CA.
NFIN: The Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities
(NEFIN) has demanded 37% of the CA seats based on the population of the indigenous
people. NEFIN said there the women's 50%
CA quota should include 50% of IP women. It called for implementing past GoN
agreements relating to IP representation in state mechanisms and warned of a
stir if these demands were not addressed. They stated that indigenous people
did not want ethnic states -- but identity-related rights.
BDS: The Blue Diamond Society (BDS) urged the GoN to
nominate third gender people in the CA. The society, an organization working to
protect and promote the rights of the third gender, called for at least three
seats to the homosexual and third genders while nominating 26 CA members from
the Cabinet. They said that they would
launch a peaceful series of agitations if their demands are not met.
Bhimsen Idol: Nepali
national news prominently carried the story regarding the famous Bhimsen temple
deity in Dolakha that ‘sweated’ for two hours last week signaling a potentially
bad omen for the country. After the Bhimsen idol began to sweat, locals
performed a puja at the temple to ward off a disaster. The idol then turned black and started
sweating from three places. People wiped
the idol's sweat with cotton and sent it to the CDO to take the cotton to the
head of state. Previously the king
offered puja to the idol after it sweated. This time, the local administration
informed the President's Office. Meanwhile security agency chiefs have gathered
at the Bhimsen temple as it was noted that Bhimsen’s idol sweated before the
1990 earthquake and the Narayanhitti palace massacre in 2001.
Political Party News
NC: The NC has said it will form the government and is
committed to draft a new Constitution within a year of forming the government
to institutionalize the achievements of the peoples' movement of 2006,
including federalism and republican system. NC will form a consensus government
among all political parties. However, if no consensus is reached among the
parties, the NC will form a "strong majority government" and conduct
the local body elections within six months. They rejected the UML demand to
conduct an election to choose a new president and vice-president.
UCPN-M:
Ex-PM, Babu Ram Bhattarai stated on Facebook that before the CA closed in May
2012 he was in favor of extending it by imposing a state of emergency, but could not due to non-cooperation from his own colleagues -- hinting at Chairman
Dahal’s opposition to extend the CA by six months. The Bhattarai faction is
pressing Dahal to take moral responsibility for the party’s defeat.
Leaders
of the Dahal faction insist that it was the Bhattarai government that damaged
the party’s reputation by not delivering a new constitution and he should take the responsibility. They believe it was a collective party failure
so all the party leaders should take responsibility for the defeat.
The
UCPN-M concluded that failure to manage the party organization, misleading
reports submitted by local committees, the eroding proletariat character of the
party and acceptance of the formation of the Chief Justice-led government were
the main reasons for the party’s defeat in the election.
CPN-M: CPN-Maoist Vice-Chair C.P. Gajurel said there is no
possibility of unification with the UCPN-M or meaning in forging alliance from
the party they walked away from last year.
He added that the UCPN-M was an opportunist party. He stated that the
UCPN-M lost as voters were not favorable toward them because the party had been
arrogant and acted against the people, plus the party split caused their electoral
defeat. The party expressed its suspicion over the UCPN-M allegations about the
vote-rigging suggesting that the UPCN-M was trying to gain bargaining power
with other parties.
The CPN-M decided to launch a public campaign to strengthen and extend its organization from
mid-December 2013 to mid-February 2014.
Their struggle for the CA dissolution would lead to a national political conference
culminating in forming a joint national government to draft
the new constitution. The party will research
alternative models of revolution as the existing models were outdated. People’s revolt was a greater priority than
people’s war, they said, but it was not possible with the existing party
structure that could not even maintain secrecy and discipline.
RPP-N: Seventeen
Central Committee members filed a complaint at EC against the party Chairperson
Kamal Thapa. The CA election ordinance states that the PR list has to be
finalized by majority of the party's Central Committee; however, Thapa
submitted the list to the EC without endorsing it by the Central Committee. He
included businessmen Shyam Sundar Agrawal and Rajkumar Agrawal who are not
party members while proposing Biraj Bista who is the son of senior party leader
Keshar Bahadur Bista. Central Assistant General-Secretaries Ramesh Shrestha and
Babukaji Shrestha claimed Thapa selected the wife, son and daughter-in-law of
senior party leaders along with businessmen unaffiliated to the party, as well
as junior party members.
Madhesi Parties: Madhesi parties have reiterated that they
adhere firmly to the right to self-determination which is in line with robust
federalism. However, they reject rival parties' claims that the right to
self-determination means the right to separation. Madhesis, they say, want to
shape their future on their own terms and conditions while remaining Nepali
citizens. Madhesis wants autonomy in their proposed provinces which will ensure
that others cannot impose their cultural norms on them. Political analysts
believe Madhesi parties have pushed for self-determination to ensure their
rights over local resources in the proposed provinces.
Madhes Samata Party: The
party’s nominated PR candidate, Betan Mukhiya, is being reviewed by the EC as
only 4 of the 7 Central Committee party members recommended his name.
Sadbhavana:
The Rajendra Mahato-led SP claimed that the mandatory requirement
of citizenship for voters to cast their ballots led to the humiliating defeat
of the Madhes-based parties in the recently concluded CA elections. The party said that the vast
multitude of Madhesi people could not cast their votes as they did not have
citizenship card. Madhes political
observers, however, say these parties lost because they failed to effectively
raise the issues of Madhes and due to the parties’ frequent splits.
RJM & SJN: The Rastriya Janamorcha chaired by Chitra
Bahadur KC and the Kaji Lal Waiba-led Samyukta Janamorcha Nepal unified. The
party’s name will remain the Rastriya Janamorcha and KC will lead the fused
party. An agreement to continue to
struggle on the issues of nationality led to the parties’ unification. KC said the unification will assist his party
to keep the nation undivided.
MJF-D & JTMM: The
Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Democratic and the Janatantrik Tarai Madhesh Mukti
Party unified. The two sides unified following talks on ideology, political and
organizational issues. JTMM joined peaceful politics following peace talks with
the Government from 2068 B.S. Leaders and cadres will now carry out their
political activities as per the policy, ideology and principles of the MJF-D.
UCPN-M & SJTMM: Chairman of Samyukta Janatantrik Terai
Mukti Morcha Pawan Giri formally merged his party into the UCPN-M. Giri led SJTMM as an underground outfit in
Terai. Unification occurred after a year
and a half of talks and also would be at the district and local levels.
Key Political Party
Players
§
Aasha Chaturvedi, Madhesi People´s Right
Forum-Democratic (MPRF-D) Secretary
§
Ajambar Kangmang Rai, FSP Assistant General
Secretary
§
Ashok Rai, FSP Chairman
§
Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar, MPRF-D Chairman
§
Brikhesh Chandra Lal, TMDP Vice-Chairman
§
C.P. Gajurel, CPN-M Vice-Chairman
§
Chandra Bahadur Gurung, RPP-N General-Secretary
§
Chitra Bahadur KC, Rastriya Janamorcha Chairman
§
Gopal Dahit, Tharuhat Terai Party-Nepal Chairman
§
Jitendra Dev, MPRF-D General Secretary
§
Jitendra Sonal, TMDP Joint General-Secretary
§
Kaji Lal Waiba, Samyukta Janamorcha Nepal
Chairman
§
Kamal Thapa, RPP-N Chairman
§
Krishna Prasad Sitaula, NC General Secretary
§
Laxman Lal Karna, Sadbhavana Party Co-Chairman
§
Mahanth Thakur, TMDP Chairman
§
Mahendra Yadav, Tarai Madhes Samajbadi Party
Chairman
§
Manish Suman, Sadbhavana Party (SP)
General-Secretary
§
Mohammad Lal Babu Raut, Madhesi People´s Rights
Forum-Nepal (MPRF-N) Vice-Chairman
§ Manish Suman, Sadbhavana Party (SP) General-Secretary
§
Pawan Giri, Samyukta Janatantrik Terai Mukti
Morcha Chairman
§
Prahlad Sah, RPP-N Central Assistant
General-Secretary
§
Prakash Man Singh, NC
General-Secretary
§
Pushpa Kamal Dahal ('Prachanda'), UCPN-M Chairman
§
Rajendra Mahato, Sadbhawana Party (SP) Chairman
§
Rajendra Shrestha, FSP General Secretary
§
Ram Baran Yadav, President of the Republic of
Nepal
§
Ram Chandra Poudel, NC Vice-President
§
Ratneshwar Lal Kayastha, Madhesi People´s Right
Forum-Nepal (MPRF-N) Spokesperson
§
Ravindra Thakur, MPRF-D Secretary
§
Rukmini Chaudhary, Sanghiya Loktantrik Rastriya
Manch (Tharuhat), President
§
Santosh Kumar Mehta, Rajendra Mahato-led SP
National Spokesperson
§
Sarbendra Nath Sukla, TMDP, Spokesperson
§
Sushil Koirala, NC President
§
Upendra Yadav, MPRF-N Chairman
Total PR Votes by
Party (# of PR Seats Earned)
1.
NC
2,418,370 (91)
2.
UML
2,239,609 (84)
3.
UCPNM 1,439,726 (54)
4.
RPPN
630,697 (23)
5.
MJF-D 274,987 (10)
6.
RP
260,234 (10)
7.
MJF-N 214,319 (8)
8.
TMLP 181,140 (7)
9.
Sadhbhawana
133,273 (5)
10.
CPN (ML)
130,300 (5)
11.
Sanghiya Samajwadi 121,274
(5)
12.
Rastriya Jana Morcha 92,387
(3)
13.
CPN-United 91,997
(3)
14.
Rastriya Madhesi Samajwadi 79,508 (3)
15.
Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party 66,649 (3)
16.
Rastriya Janamukti Party 63,834
(2)
17.
Terai Madhesh Sadwabhana Party Nepal 62,746
(2)
18.
Tharuhat Terai Party Nepal 62,526 (2)
19.
Nepal Pariwar Dal 51,823 (2)
20.
Dalit Janajati Party 48,802 (2)
21.
Akhanda Nepal Party 36,882 (1)
22.
MJF-Ganatantrik 33,982 (1)
23.
Nepali Janata Dal 33,203
(1)
24.
Khambuwan Rastriya Morcha: 30,686
(1)
25.
Nepa: Rastriya Party 28,011 (1)
26.
Janajagaran Party Nepal 27,397
(1)
27.
Sanghiya Sadbhawana Party 25,215 (1)
28.
Madhesh Samata Party Nepal 23,001
(1)
29.
Samajwadi Janata Party 21,515
(1)
30.
Sanghiya Loktantrik Rastriya Manch (Tharuhat) 21,128 (1)
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