Nepal 2013 Constituent Assembly Election Final Results (without PR lists) and Collected Information

Nepal 2013 Constituent Assembly Election
 

Final Results (without PR lists) and Collected Information

 

 

Keith D. Leslie

Indus Institute

December 8, 2013

 

 TOTAL SEATS BY PARTY

 

NC won 196 CA seats and emerged as the largest party under both the First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) system with 105 seats and the PR election with 91 seats.

UML won 175 CA seats with 91 seats under the FPTP system and 84 seats under the PR quota.

UPCN-M won 80 CA seats with 26 seats under the FPTP system and 54 under the PR.  They had 240 seats total in the previous 2008 Constituent Assembly elections.

RPP-N won 23 CA seats all from the PR list, thereby having the fourth highest CA seat total among the 122 parties.  Kamal Thapa’s party campaign slogan “One vote for Dai (Congress) and one for Gai (cow – their emblem)” proved very successful, especially in the Kathmandu Valley.

MJF-D won 14 CA seats with 4 FPTP seats and an additional 10 PR seats. The Bijay Gachchhedar-led party became the largest Madhes-centric national party – although losing seats compared to the 2008 CA election when the MJF party was united.

RPP won 13 CA seats with 3 FPTP seats and 10 PR seats, thus coming in a distant second to the more Hindu and monarchical-inclined RPP-N party.  This is the party of earlier panchayat leaders, former PM Surya Bahadur Thapa and former minister Pashupati Shumsher Rana.

TMLP won 11 CA seats with 4 FPTP seats and 7 PR seats.  

 

MJF-N won 10 CA seats with 2 FPTP seats and 8 PR seats.  The Upendra Yadav-led party slumped into a chastened third position among the Madhesi parties winning FPTP seats from their more important role in the 2008 CA election.

Sadbhawana won 6 CA seats with 1 FPTP seat and 5 PR seats.

Sanghiya Samajwadi Party won 5 CA seats all through their PR list.  The Ashok Rai-led Socialist Federalist Party had broken away from the UML party, but proved unable to harness the indigenous and Janjati vote they expected to gain around the country.

CPN-ML won 5 CA seats all through their PR list.

NMK won 4 CA seats with 1 FPTP seat and 3 PR seats. 

 

Tarai Madhes Sadbhawana Party won 3 CA seats with 1 FPTP seat and 2 PR seats.

Independent candidates won 2 CA seats, both FPTP seats and no PR seats.

CPN-M did not participate in the elections, but the Mohan Baidya leadership is reportedly in negotiations with the major parties to join the CA. Though the CPN-M has not made any formal announcement, sources say they are demanding an equal number of seats as the UCPN (M).

No Other Parties won FPTP seats in the 2013 CA election.
 

PR SEATS

 

As per the EC provisions on inclusiveness under the PR system, political parties that are allocated up to 30% of the total of 335 PR seats should include 50% male members and 50% females. These political parties’ PR lists should also include 31.2% Madhesi (women and men 15.6% each), 13% Dalits (women and men 6.5% each), 37.8% indigenous (women and men 18.9% each), 4% from backward regions (women and men 2%) and 30.2 % Khas and Aryan (women and men 15.1%).

30 political parties that secured at least 21,000 PR votes each were allocated seats in the new CA out of the 122 political parties that competed, according to the EC.  In the 2008 CA election, 54 parties contested and 25 parties made it to the Constituent Assembly.

According to the final allocation of 335 PR seats by the EC:

• NC secured 91 PR seats, the largest of any party
• UML came second with 84 PR seats
• UCPN (M) came third with 54 PR seats
• RPP-N was fourth with 24 PR seats
• MPRF-D and RPP earned 10 PR seats each
• MPRF-Nepal gained 8 PR seats, and
• TMDP secured 7 seats.  

 

In addition, three parties earned five PR seats each, including the Federal Socialist Party, CPN (Marxist-Leninist) and Sadbhawana Party.

Four parties gained three PR seats each, including the Rastriya Janamorcha, CPN (Samayukta), Nepal Workers Peasants Party and National Madhes Socialist Party.

Five political parties gained two PR seats each, including the Nepal Pariwar Dal, Rastriya Janamukti Party, Dalit Janajati Party, Tarai Madhes Sadbhawana Party and Tharuhat Tarai Party Nepal.

Ten political parties earned one PR seat each, including the Sanghiya Lokatantrik Rastriya Manch (Tharuhat), Samajbadi Janata Party, Nepali Janata Dal, MPRF-Republican, Nepaa Rastriya Party, Sanghiya Sadbhawana Party, Khambuwan Rastriya Morcha Nepal, Akhanda Nepal Party, Janajagaran Party Nepal and Madhes Samata Party Nepal.

Out of the total of 9,463,862 valid PR votes, 92 political parties that did not earn any PR seats secured a total of 551,404 votes.

Earlier, the EC declared that 31 political parties that had secured over 18,000 PR votes would make it to the new CA.  Asked why fewer parties will be in the new CA, the commissioner stated, “It is because of the increase in the total number of valid PR votes after verification.”

As of December 8^th, 2013, only 3 of 30 parties have submitted their PR lists to the EC, i.e., Nepal Pariwar Dal, Samajbadi Janata Party and Khambuwan Rastriya Morcha.  The Nepal Pariwar Dal has earned two PR seats while Samajbadi Janata Party and Khambuwan Rastriya Morcha have one PR seat each.  The parties are to inform the EC by Tuesday, December 10^th, 2013 of their PR selections.

 

Specific Party PR Candidates:

NC:  Women leaders like Sujata Koirala, Arzu Rana Deuba, Chitra Lekha Yadav and Ambika Basnet are in the PR list and expecting to be included on the NC list.

UML:  Senior leaders on the PR list include Bharat Mohan Adhikari, Amrit Bohara, Bidhya Bhandari, Yubaraj Gyawali, Pradeep Nepal and Asta Laxmi Shakya, who are all ex-ministers.

MJF-Democratic:  Bhupendra Chaudhary is a PR candidate from Saptari district where MJF-D did well.

MJF-Nepal:  The Upendra Yadav-led party is under pressure to ensure seats to senior leaders like Bharat Bimal Yadav, Ram Sahay Yadav, Ratneswar Lal Kayastha, Amresh Narayan Jha and Arjun Thapa.

TMDP:  Mahanth Thakur-led Tarai Madhes Democratic Party will try to ensure seats for influential leaders like Govinda Chaudhary and Bijay Kumar Singh.

NMSP:  Sharat Singh Bhandari-led National Madhes Socialist Party (NMSP) secured only three PR seats. The party is likely to distribute PR seats among influential leaders like Nirjala Raut and Rameshwar Sah.

Madheshi Parties (in general):  As the senior Madhesi party leaders are struggling to secure PR seats in the new CA given the reduced number of seats for these parties, there appears to be fewer prospects of Madhesi party candidates from Hill communities being given seats.  These Madhesi parties, because they did not win enough votes to claim 30% of the PR seats, are not required to provide seats according to the EC regulations.  However, the parties are trying to make their final PR lists most inclusive to prove they are national (not just regional) political parties.

POLITICAL PARTY LEADERSHIP (formal & informal)

 

Nepal Congress:

The NC parliamentary board is chaired by party president Sushil Koirala and will be responsible for selecting the 91 NC PR representatives.  It includes VP Ram Chandra Poudel, General-Secretaries Prakash Man Singh and Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Treasurer Chitra Lekha Yadav, Joint General-Secretary Khadka, plus CWC members Bimalendra Nidhi, Ram Saran Mahat, Arjun Narsingh KC, Ananda Dhungana, Formullah Mansur, Sujata Koirala and Gopal Man Shrestha.  (8 B/C, 2 N, 2 Madhesi, 1 Muslim; 2 women)

The meeting will try to ensure a balanced representation from the Koirala followers as well as the faction led by Sher Bahadur Deuba.  Once finalized by the NC parliamentary board, NC statutes make it mandatory for the final PR NC party CWC meeting before being sent to EC. 

UML: 

Jhalanath Khanal is being advised by Surendra Pandey, Bhim Acharya, Parshu Meghi Gurung, Gokarna Bista, Yuvaraj Karki, Ghanshyam Bhusal, Yogesh Bhattarai.  It is reported that the Bamdev Gautam faction is more likely to join with the Khanal faction.

Madhav Kumar Nepal is supported by Bhim Rawal, Raghuji Pant, Gangalal Tuladhar.

K.P. Oli is advised by his supporters, including: Bidhya Bhandari, Ishwar Pokharel, Shankar Pokharel, Bishnu Paudel, Pradip Gyawali and Guru Baral.

Federal Democratic Alliance (FDA):

A new Federal Democratic Alliance (FDA) has been formed by 18 political parties that did not do well in the 2013 elections.  They intend to pressure political parties and state agencies to accommodate their agendas in the new constitution.  They will lobby for a proportional inclusive system in decision-making bodies of the government, as well as that the decisions taken by the previous CA must be owned by the new CA and a consensus-based decision-making process be required, instead of decisions by only a majority.  In addition, they are committed to ethnic and regional identity as the primary basis, and economic viability the secondary, for delineating provinces in the proposed federal system

The FDA includes: UCPN (Maoist), Tarai-Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP), Madhesi People´s Rights Forum Nepal (MPRF-N), Federal Socialist Party Nepal (FSP-N), Sadbhavana Party, Tarai-Madhes Sadbhavana Party, MPRF-Republican, Tharuhat Tarai Party, Sanghiya Loktantrik Rastriya Manch, Rastriya Janamukti Party and Federal Sadbhavana Party are among the 18 parties in the alliance. 

Madhes Parties:

After their poor showing in the 2013 election, four Madhesi parties have begun discussing unification.  These include the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum Ganatantrik (MJF-G), Sanghiya Sadbhawana Party (SSP), Madhesh Tarai Forum (MTF) and Nepal Sadbhawana Party (NSP). The four parties issued a joint press statement signed by MJF-G Chairman Raj Kishor Yadav, SSP Chairman Anil Kumar Jha, MTF Chairman Amar Yadav and spokesperson of NSP (Sarita Giri), Prawin Labh, expressing their hope that other parties will be brought onboard during ths new party unification.

Other Madhesi Party Leaders:

• Ravindra Thakur, Secretary of the Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar MPRF-D
• Ratneshwar Lal Kayastha, Spokesman, Upendra Yadav MPRF-N
• Brikhesh Chandra Lal, Vice-Chair of the Tarai Madhesh Democratic Party (TMDP)
• Sarbendra Nath Sukla, Spokesperson of Tarai Madhesh Democratic Party (TMDP)
• Manish Suman, General Secretary of the Rajendra Mahato Sadbhawana Party (SP)
• Laxman Lal Karna, Co-chair of Rajendra Mahato-led Sadbhawana Party (SP)
• Rameshwar Sah, NMSP General Secretary

 

MINORITY & MARGINALIZED COMMUNITIES

 

Overall Perspective:

 

Based on the 2013 FPTP results, the dominance of NC and UML Brahmin-Chhetri men in the new CA/Legislature-Parliament has been re-established.  Many of these NC and UML leaders were active members in the early stages of Nepal’s parliamentary democracy after 1990 -- before the Parliament was dissolved in 2002.  Unlike 2008 when the UCPN-M was dominant in the first election after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) in 2006, in this election most of the NC and UML elder statesmen won their seats, including Sushil Koirala, Sher Bahadur Deuba, Ram Chandra Poudyal, Ram Saran Mahat of the NC and Jalanath Khanal, Madhav Nepal, K.P. Oli and Bamdev Gautam of the UML. 

 

While, in comparison, the Dalit and women’s FPTP representation has been dramatically reduced by over 60-70% in this 2013 election from 2008.  The infusion of women, Dalits and historically marginalized communities who won FPTP seats in the earlier CA through the UCPN-M has diminished with the traditional democratic parties winning the majority of seats once again in 2013.

Despite the rout of Madhesi parties, however, the voice of the Madhesis in the major parties will be still essential in the CA proceedings. The risk of tension between Madheshi representatives and their NC and UML party leaders can surface if the aspirations of the Madhesi community are not addressed.

From the initial FPTP results, it appears that the NC and UML voices opposed to cultural-identity politics and expanded rights for the historically marginalized will be as influential, if not more, as the limited number of independent Madhesi and Janjati representatives in the new CA.  (See M. Rijal quote below.)

Women:

According to the Election Act 2007, at least 33 percent of the total candidates from a party should be  women. Similarly, the Interim Constitution has a mandatory provision to allocate at least 33 percent of the women representation in all legislative structures, including the parliament, in the country.  However there has not always been a clear commitment from the political parties to honor these.

 In a major setback for women elected representatives, only 10 women (4.2%) were elected out of 240 FPTP seats in the 2013 FPTP electoral category from all parties.  This is significantly less than the 30 women who were elected in the FPTP 2008 CA election from all parties.  In 2008 CA election, the UCNP-M alone fielded 43 women candidates of whom 24 won their elections under the FPTP system.  This year only one UCPN-M woman was successful.

 

In fact, in the 2013 elections the UCPN-M, UML and NC parties only fielded 26, 26, and 25 women out of the 240 FPTP seats in the CA election, respectively -- just slightly more than 10% of their candidates -- even though Nepal Election Act 2007 states that at least 33% of total candidates from each party should be women. 

 

Women elected included: NC Parbati DC Chaudhary and Sushila Chaudhary from Dang 1 and 2, Sharada Poudel from Kaski 2, Sita Devi Yadav, Kiran Yadav and Gyan Kumari Chantyal from Siraha, Mahottarai and Baglung. UML winners include Sita Devi Giri from Kaski 4, Manju Kumari Chaudhary from Udayapur 2 and Najma Khatun from Bara 4 (wife of slain UML candidate Mohamad Alam). UCPN-M Onsari Gharti Magar won from Rolpa 2. CPN-UML. 

Regarding women’s representation, NC leader Minendra Rijal was quoted as saying, “There is no constitutional or any other legally binding reason for political parties to ensure 33 percent women’s representation in the CA or a definite level of representation for any other group. What we have to do is field candidates as required by the election laws and that we have already done.”         
[Deepak Thapa Op/Ed KTM Post 05/12/13]

It remains to be seen if the major parties uphold their commitments to the EC to nominate 50% women from their PR seats.  The smaller parties, unfortunately, are not under a similar requirement.

Dalits:

In 2008, for the first time Dalits were elected to the Parliament in a FPTP election when seven Dalits were elected under the UCPN-M.  However, in 2013 this number shrunk to under one percent when two Dalits won their FPTP election out of 240 seats (0.8%), one from UCPN-M and one from UML.

In the 2008 CA there were 50 Dalits (28 men and 22 women -- including PR representation) out of 601 members, i.e. 8% of the total.  However, it is unlikely, even with the EC PR requirements, there will be that many Dalit CA members in 2013.  Given that Dalits are 13% of Nepal’s population, the 2013 election will likely leave this historically marginalized community with fewer advocates to speak for their rights while drafting the new constitution.

The 50 Dalit 2008 representatives were elected or nominated by the following political parties:

• 21 CPN/M                     (7 elected; 14 nominated)
• 10 Congress                   (all nominated)
• 10 UML                         (all nominated)
• 2 MJF                            (all nominated)
• 6 Smaller Parties         
• 1 Rastriya Dalit Party    (Bisendra Paswan)

Muslims:

In 2008, 18 Muslim candidates secured seats in the previous CA. Of them, 5 were elected from Madhesi parties. This year Muslim candidates are not optimistic about their inclusion in the final list of PR candidates.  The Muslim community fears that their issues are likely to be neglected as the Madhesi parties have been weakened.

VOTERS & INVALID VOTES

 

According to the EC, a total of 9,516,734 FPTP votes were cast out of which 471,826 votes were invalid. Similarly, 9,776,703 PR votes were cast out of which 312,841 votes were invalid. There were 12,147,865 voters, but this reached 12,249,062 when temporary voters were added in the voters’ list.
 

Compared to the last elections, the EC managed to reduce the invalid vote, but only marginally. In 2008, the invalid vote was 5.15% and 3.66% under the FPTP and PR, respectively. In 2013 EC officials said 4.96% and 3.20% of total votes were invalid in the FPTP and PR votes respectively. Therefore, the EC could reduce the invalid vote only by 0.19 per cent under FPTP and 0.46 per cent under the PR.

The EC believes their special voter education program, the introduction of the voter identity cards and media announcements regarding the voting process helped reduce the invalid vote percentage.

 

Under 2013 FPTP election, 5,332 candidates (4,228 from parties and 1,104 who were independent) lost their security deposit as they failed to secure 10% of valid votes.

QUESTIONS ON VOTER TURNOUT

 

The Election Commission has not come out yet with an official figure on voter turnout.  However, out of 12.1 million registered voters, there have been 9.46 million valid votes, thus it can be estimated that Nepal achieved a voter turnout of 78%. However, adjusting this by five percent invalid votes, which may be normal, the ratio jumps to 82%. This is extremely impressive given Nepal’s difficult topography, the Baidya faction’s call for a strike and Nepal’s track record of not exceeding 65-70% voter turnout.

How could this have been achieved? First, the large number of 122 political parties helped to increase voter turnout.  Second, according to the 2011 Census, the total voting age population (18+ years) is 15.4 million while the EC registered only 12.1 million voters. Therefore, a large number of voters stayed outside the purview of the election process. 

Nepal’s two tier voting system provides a method of crosschecking.  The total vote count for 31 political parties (out of 122) and independent candidates under the FPTP and PR were 8.93 million votes under FPTP and 8.96 million under PR system.  There is not much deviation between the two. Someone interested in rigging the election process would have had to play with both systems. A greater deviation between these two counts would imply possible rigging.   Although not fully scientific, this does provide some degree of reliability.  [Narayan Manandhar in the KTM Post]

CONTESTED ELECTIONS

 

Siraha 5:

CPN-UML candidate Leela Shrestha, who contested the polls from Siraha Constituency 5 district filed a petition at the CA court demanding re-polling at six centers of the constituency.  Shrestha claimed that voting was massively rigged at the six polling centers of Wards 8 and 9 of Kalpanpur VDC to ensure the victory of UCPN (M) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. The petition states that the Returning Officer of the election constituency refused to respond to the complaint filed by Shrestha as to why vote counting was postponed for eight hours. The petitioner also claimed the Armed Police Force (APF) personnel submitted ballot papers to the Returning Officer after they came to know about vote-rigging at all six polling centers.

Solukhumbu:

UCPN (M) candidate Gombu Sherpa of Solukhumbu district filed a petition accusing NC candidate Bala Bahadur KC of vote-rigging.  The NC candidate, the District Election Office Solukhumbu and the Chief Returning Officer have been named as defendants in the petition. Sherpa urged the CA court to scrap the poll result in accordance with clause 27 of Election (Offenses and Punishment) Act, 2007. Sherpa in his petition has accused KC of capturing the polling center through financial maneuverings.
 

Sherpa claimed that he was not included in an all-party meeting before beginning the vote count and the counting process was concluded in the absence of his representatives.  He claimed that security personnel did not allow his representatives to carry out observation after ballot boxes were collected from Sukepokhari, Nele, Goli and Setang. The UCPN (M) candidate stated that his cadres were not allowed to visit the places where the ballot boxes were kept.

Sunsari 3:

CPN-UML Bhagawati Chaudhari from Sunsari 3 has challenged the victory of Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar at the CA court with a petition demanding annulment of the election result. She accused Gachchhadar, chairman of MPRF-D, of vote rigging. She claims the vehicle transporting the ballot boxes were seized by Gachchhadar´s supporters who replaced the ballot papers. Gachchhadar contested the CA polls from Sunsari 3 and Morang 7; however, he lost in Morang. Gachchhadar, a former deputy-PM and home minister, won the election from Sunsari 3 by only 362 votes. Gachchhadar secured 17,524 votes while Chaudhari received 17,162 votes. In her petition, Chaudhari states that of the 53,419 votes cast 3,852 were invalid. Chaudhari claims vote rigging took place in five VDCs, Raniganj, Belgachhiya, Aamduwa, Chimdi and Amahi, along the Nepal-India border.

In addition:

 

Dolakha 1: NC candidate Jip Chhiring Lama of Dolakha constituency 1 has challenged victory of CPN-UML candidate Parbat Gurung.

Kathmandu 4: UCPN (M) candidate Nanda Kishor Pun, who contested the CA poll from Kathmandu constituency 4, has challenged victory of Nepali Congress (andidate Gagan Thapa. 

Morang 4: NC candidate Gayananda Mandal has challenged the victory of UCPN-M candidate Shiva Kumar Mandal in Morang District constituency 4, who won by four votes.
 

 

SOME OF THE WINNERS

 

NC Rajendra Kumar KC, who is a native of Chobhar, defeated Dahal by a margin of more than 7,500 votes. In 2008, he had lost to Dahal by 11,000 votes. KC started his political career in 1974 as a student leader and became actively involved after the 1990 Janandolan. In the same year, the NC nominated him to chair the party’s Chobhar Village Committee and he went on to become the regional chairman in later years. During the 1993 local elections, he was elected as chairman of Chobhar Ward 2.

NC Sushila Chaudhary won from Dang 2 where she has been fighting for the rights of women and marginalized communities and is president of Laxmi Development, Savings, and Loan Cooperative.

NC Dik Bahadur Limbu of Morang-9 was defeated in the 2008 elections by a small margin, but managed to defeat senior UCPN-M leader and former finance minister, Barshaman Pun, in 2013. Limbu started out in leftist politics, but joined the NC in 1986. He has served as the village and regional level president as well as the party’s co-president for the district.

NC Amrit Aryal, newly elected from from Morang 5, said that political parties would have no future if they tried to play the game of ethnic politics.  “I have been elected by more than 80 per cent Madhesi voters,” he said, ”Now ethnic politics has ended in Morang”. The NC leader defeated his closest rival Upendra Yadav, Chairman of Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Nepal by 3,000 votes. Yadav had won the previous CA election with a difference of 18,000 votes from the same constituency.

UML Najma Khatun was given the ticket for Bara 4 after her husband Mohammad Alam was murdered during the campaign. Khatun joined the All Nepal  Women’s Association in 1991 and began actively raising women empowerment issuess.  She became a UML member, then in 2009 became a UML central committee member. “My plans are to address women empowerment issues in our community, " she said. Khatun gained 12,361 votes winning with a margin of over 5,000 votes.

 

UML Rameshwar Phuyal, born in Alamkot VDC outside Kathmandu in 1963, campaigned for multi-party democracy in the 1979 referendum and led the civil servant movement before being sacked for participating in anti-government protests. Phuyal was UML’s Kathmandu District Committee chief for 11 years, twice Chairman of Alamkot VDC and imprisoned during the 2006 people’s movement.  Phuyal contested the 2008 CA election, but lost to NC’s Chakra. 

 

UML Rabin Koirala from Jhapa 1 was born in Panchthar, but spent his childhood in Jhapa where he completed his education. In 1990, Koirala became a district committee member until in 2009, the party elected him as the district chairman. After winning the 1998 local elections, he served as mayor of Mechinagar and brought electricity to the municipality.

UML Chandi Prasad Rai works as a teacher at a local school in his constituency of Morang 2.  It is said, he won his election based on his excellent reputation and involvement in social work.

UML Prem Giri won from Jhapa 4.  He is the former chairman of Khudunabari VDC and runs an NGO advocating for safe drinking water and health posts. Giri has spent years giving leadership training, nutrition education and establishing cooperatives in this area.

  

UCPN-M Shambu Lal Shrestha won in Sarlahi 1.  He started his political career in the early 90s with the NC and became district secretary in 1999. He won the local elections of 1992 and 1998 and was elected as chairman of Pattharkot VDC. He defected to the UCPN-M this year and defeated Chairman of the UML and former PM Jhalanath Khanal by more than 600 votes.

MJF-D Janak Raj Chaudhary won from Kailali 1, it is said, because of his reputation as a good and honest teacher in these communities.

SOME OF THE LOSERS

 

UML:  Influential ‘youth’ candidates who lost include: Ishawar Pokharel, Shankar Pokharel, Pradip Gyawali, Arun Nepal, Ghanashyam Bhusal, Ramnath Dhakal, Jagannath Khatiwada and Yogesh Bhattarai.

Sanghiya Loktantrik Rastriya Manch (Tharuhat): This Tharu national democratic federalist party only received 21,128 PR votes – enough for one seat, similar to its position in the 2008 CA election.

Newa Pary:  The Newa Party, a political party of the Newar community, secured only 9,377 votes under FPTP while it managed to secure 28,011 votes under PR -- enough for only one seat.

Akhanda Nepal Party:  This Far Western regional party earned only 1 PR seat with 36,882 PR votes although they had made their commitment to an undivided Far West their campaign slogan. 

 

Tharuhat Terai Party Nepal: This Tharu ethnic party did not win any FPTP seats, but received 62,526 votes in the PR campaign, enough for two seats in the new CA. 

Bibeksheel Nepali (meaning common sense wisdom) is a movement founded in 2012 to galvanize disillusioned youth. Bibeksheel ran public campaigns against strikes and recommending reforms to address women violence and corruption. They emphasized the creative use of social media and public outreach t put together a coalition of people who have stayed out of the political process for too long.  Their candidate came in fifth in Kathamandu Constitutency 5.

The Joint Ninety Parties’ Front:  These parties who were defeated in the election handed a memorandum to UCPN-M Chairman Dahal urging him to reject the results of the election as there was proof of planned conspiracy and rigging. The front demanded Dahal take the initiative to ensure the involvement of all the parties in the constitution drafting process so that they can also own the new constitution. The front has threatened to go for a street struggle if their demands are not fulfilled.


UN MAPS ON THE 2013 ELECTIONS RESULTS

http://www.un.org.np/sites/default/files/2013-11-29-candidate_political_parties.pdf

  

http://www.un.org.np/sites/default/files/CA-candidate-by-caste.pdf

  

http://www.un.org.np/sites/default/files/CA-candidate-by-gender.pdf

 

 

CONTROVERSIAL CONSTITUTIONAL CLAUSES (POST-ELECTION)

 

Some of the provisions in the existing Interim Constitution that are being debated include:

• Article 36 (C): Tenure of the President

 

Political parties are divided over fresh election for President. Article 36(C) states that the term of the President shall be until the commencement of the constitution to be promulgated by the CA.  But this can be interpreted to be in contradiction as the tenure of the first CA was originally set for two years, then extended to four years.

Some politicians and constitutional lawyers believe there is no need to amend the Interim Constitution regarding the tenure of the President, but there is an urgent need to hold fresh election for President. They advise that the President was not elected for an indefinite period and best practices in other mature democratic countries should be followed.  The question has been raised as to what will happen to the President if the new CA again fails to draft a new constitution?  It is it wise and reasonable for the President (and Vice-President) to continue in office in perpetuity until a constitution is drafted?

• Article 69 (1): Calling the first meeting of the CA

 

Who shall call the first meeting of the CA is yet another debated issue. Article 69(1) has vested the prime minister with the power to call the first meeting of the CA. However, when the Interim Constitution was ratified in 2007, Nepal had not yet been declared a republic -- as was done by the first meeting of the CA in 2008, before the President was yet to be elected. But now that the presidency is fully functioning, some party leaders are saying that the power to call the first CA meeting should be transferred to the President, who will do so at the recommendation of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers.

• Article 38(1) (2): Formation of a new government

 

Article 38 has two provisions: Article 38(1) calls for formation of the government on the basis of consensus while Article 38(2) allows formation of a majority government, which is invoked only if the consensus efforts fail to yield result. The Interim Constitution does not suggest any other alternative.

POLITICAL PARTIES WINNING TWO OR MORE CA SEATS

Party	FPTP			Proportional			Nominated seats	Total seats	+/–
	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
Nepali Congress	2,694,983	29.80	105	2,418,370	25.55	91
Communist Party of Nepal (UML)	2,492,090	27.55	91	2,239,609	23.66	84
Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)	1,609,145	17.79	26	1,439,726	15.21	54
Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal	252,579	2.79	0	630,697	6.66	24
Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum, Nepal (Loktantrik)	283,468	3.13	4	274,987	2.91	10
Rastriya Prajatantra Party	238,313	2.63	3	260,234	2.75	10
Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum, Nepal	206,110	2.28	2	214,319	2.26	8
Tarai-Madhesh Loktantrik Party	171,889	1.90	4	181,140	1.91	7
Sadbhavana Party	140,930	1.56	1	133,271	1.41	5
Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist)	98,091	1.08	0	130,300	1.38	5
Federal Socialist Party	108,683	1.20	0	121,274	1.28	5
Rastriya Janamorcha	66,666	0.74	0	92,387	0.98	3
Communist Party of Nepal (United)	24,808	0.27	0	91,997	0.97	3
Rashtriya Madhesh Samajwadi Party	76,392	0.84	0	79,508	0.84	3
Nepal Workers Peasants Party	54,323	0.60	1	66,778	0.71	3
Rastriya Janamukti Party	39,352	0.44	0	63,834	0.67	2
Terai Madhes Sadbhavana Party	65,047	0.72	1	62,746	0.66	2
Tharuhat Tarai Party Nepal	38,972	0.43	0	62,526	0.66	2
Nepal Parivar Dal	14,546	0.16	0	51,823	0.55	2
Dalit Janajati Party	33,508	0.37	0	48,802	0.52	2