The post Deuba Resigns, Oli On the Way as New Nepal PM appeared first on Nepali Sansar.
]]>Deuba’s resignation from PMO welcomes the Communist-led new Nepali Government with Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli as the next Prime Minister.
Deuba served in PM office for eight months post the country’s transformation from a Hindu monarchy to the federal republic.
The main target of the Deuba-led Nepali Government was to complete the three phases of the country’s most-awaited landmark elections needed for the implementation of new Nepali Constitution.
“My main responsibility was to hold the three phases of elections for the implementation of the new constitution. My responsibility has been fulfilled, so I have decided to resign,” Deuba said in a statement.
The most-awaited Nepal General Elections 2017, parliamentary and provincial polls, saw the grand victory of Communist alliance of CPN-UML and CPN-MC over the ruling Nepali Congress.
After registering a grand victory, the communist alliance parties have been in discussions over the announcement of the PM candidate.
Though two names Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal came into the picture, Oli has been finally confirmed as the next Nepal PM.
After having served a similar position from October 11, 2015 to August 3, 2016 Oli is coming back again as the 41st PM of Nepal.
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]]>The post Nepal Elections 2017: Brainstorming Continues Over New Government, Seat Sharing appeared first on Nepali Sansar.
]]>However, the communist parties’ cabinet seat-sharing has been a matter of discussion since the time results were announced.
As per the latest update, the two parties are most likely to go on for a 60:40 ratio in seat sharing (the same ratio implemented for fielding candidates) if their discussions do not materialize before the formation of the new Nepali Government.
UML is reportedly keen on offering 30 percent cabinet seats to its ally MC based on the number of seats the party won in the recently-concluded polls.
According to Senior MC party leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha, the announcement of Proportional Representation (PR) seats will give a needed boost to the process of new government formation.
“Otherwise, there is no alternative but to reach a deal with the Nepali Congress (on the ordinance forwarded for National Assembly election),” Narayan added.
It will take at least two weeks to form the new government even after allotment of PR seats, says UML leader Rinal.
The discussions over announcement of Khadga Prasad Oli as the next Nepali PM was also halted due to row over the formation of new National Assembly.
“The meeting of the party unification coordination committee will begin as soon as Dahal returns from Chitwan, may be on Tuesday evening or Wednesday,” informed UML Secretary Pradeep Gyawali.
This update gains significance in view of UML’s recent announcement over formation of new Nepali Government most likely by the end of December 2017.
Meanwhile, Nepal Election Commission (EC) has made another major announcement regarding Nepal’s landmark parliamentary and provincial polls.
EC, on December 22, 2017, announced the results of country’s Provincial Council (PC) elections under the Proportional Representation (PR) system.
The seats allocation under PC saw CPN-UML leading with 75 seats followed by Nepali ruling Congress with 72 seats.
While CPN-MC won 35 seats, Federal Democratic Forum (FDF) bagged 13 seats followed by Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-Nepal) that got 12 seats.
The results of the parliamentary polls under PR system are likely to be announced very soon.
According to the EC Spokesperson Navaraj Dhakal, the PR unit functioning under EC will finish the Parliamentary PR seat allocation in the next two days. “We will unveil the result of Parliamentary PR elections as soon as possible,” informed Dhakal.
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]]>The post Nepal General Election 2017: Left Alliance Wins FPTP Polls, New Govt Likely by Dec End appeared first on Nepali Sansar.
]]>The FPTP election vote count for 165 House of Representatives (HoR) and 330 Provincial Assembly (PA) seats declared the victory of the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN)-Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML) in the recent polls.
With 80 HoR seats & 167 PA seats by UML and 36 HoR & 74 PA seats by its poll partner CPN (Maoist Centre), the left alliance finally emerged as the single largest party as per the FPTP results.
With this, the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) could find its presence only in 23 HoR and 41 PA constituencies, followed by Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-Nepal) that received 11 HoR and 16 PA seats.
While the independents proved their presence in 1 HoR constituency and 3 PA constituencies, 6 women candidates made it to HoR.
According to EC, the vote counting of both HoR and National Assembly has come to final stages with 164 parliamentary and 329 provincial representatives elected so far in the polls held for 165 parliamentary and 330 provincial seats.
Overall, the left alliance won 116 of 165 FPTP seats for HoR and was leading the Proportional Representation (PR) count, held for 60 districts, for 110 seats.
Out of the 7,684,328 PR votes counted so far, “CPN-UML has so far secured 2,631,991 votes followed by NC (2,546,069), CPN-MC (1,045,446), Federal Socialist Forum Nepal (351,525) and the RJP-Nepal (295,448),” informed Nepal Election Commission (EC) Spokesperson Nawaraj Dhakal.
The PR vote counting is currently underway in around 17 districts and the final PR result is expected by December 15, 2017 evening.
Once the parties submit their HoR winners under PR category, EC will take the process ahead to President for further approval before making the list public.
The number of directly-elected women to the HoR seats under the FPTP category has decreased this time as only 6 women candidates made it to HoR.
This number indicates a gradual decline in women representatives in Nepali elections over a period.
While the first Constituent Assembly (CA) elections in 2008 saw 30 women representatives, the number declined to 10 in 2013 CA elections, and now it has come down to 6.
This situation lies in contrast to the constitutional rules that recommend 33 percent women representatives in the House.
This time, only three parties including CPN-UML, CPN-MC and Rastriya Janamorcha the winning female candidates.
While UML had only 3 female winners in a total of 80 FPTP seats, CPN-MC also saw a similar number among its 36 total FPTP winners.
Meanwhile, the ruling NC party saw the failure of its 9 female candidates fielded for HoR seats.
With the results announced, now the winner leftist alliance is brainstorming on the formation of the new Nepali government with key discussions on power-sharing, among others.
According to the senior left leaders, KP Oli, UML Chairman and the next PM of Nepal (likely), and the MC Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also called Prachanda, are likely to hold discussions during December 14-15, 2017 over the formation of new government at the Center.
While some experts feel the formation of central government will be possible only after Assembly results, UML feels that the Assembly (Upper House) election will not be an issue and aims at the formation by the end of December 2017.
Following the formation, the President will call for the first Federal Parliament session under the new government, within 30 days of the declaration of final results of HoR as recommended by the Nepali Constitution.
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]]>The post Nepal General Elections 2017: Oli Likely To be the Next PM appeared first on Nepali Sansar.
]]>While 157 of the total 165 House of Representatives seats were announced so far under the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) election, the leftist alliance alone garnered a total of 106 seats.
Of this, the Communist Parties of Nepal Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML) won the highest number of 74 seats followed by CPN-Maoist Centre (MC) that won 32 seats, informed the Election Commission on December 11, 2017.
With the left alliance moving towards forming majority in the Nepali Parliament, the Communist Alliance is projecting the erstwhile Prime Minister and the communist party leader Khadga Prasad Oli as its Prime Minister candidate.
Oli won from the Jhapa-5 constituency with more than 28,000 votes against the Nepali Congress candidate Khagendra Adhikari. Oli bagged 57,139 votes in total, the highest number of votes secured by any contestant in this election.
CPN Chairman Pushpa Kumar Dahal, another name in PM’s race, got elected to the Federal Parliament from the Chitwan-3 constituency for his win against the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) candidate Bikram Pandey with 48, 276 votes.
Meanwhile, the current Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba registered victory in the Dadeldhura-1 constituency against Khaga Raj Bhatta of CPN with 28, 044 votes.
Rajendra Mahato from Dhanusa-3 constituency with 30, 742 votes, Upendra Yadav from Saptari-2 constituency with 21,620 votes, Gagan Thapa from Kathmandu-4 constituency with 21, 558 votes were among others who got elected to the Nepali Federal Parliament.
With Communist alliance leading the race, experts feel Oli could be the next Prime Minister of Nepal.
“We can expect Oli to lead a stable government with the Maoists as strong allies. Once there is a political stability, he can implement a development agenda and attract foreign investment,” opines Bipin Adhikari, a constitutional expert.
Meanwhile, in Proportional Representation (PR) category, UML stands leading with 936,442 votes, followed by Nepali Congress (NC) in the second position with 878,824 votes and CPN-MC in the third position with 385,434 votes.
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]]>The post Nepal General Elections 2017: Left Alliance Leading the Way appeared first on Nepali Sansar.
]]>The two-phase Nepal’s parliamentary and provincial elections 2017 was a three-way fight among the democratic alliance led by the ruling Nepali Congress party, the Madhes-based parties’ alliance called Rastriya Janata Party and the leftist alliance of CPN-UML and Maoist Center parties.
The counting results of the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) election of the Provincial Assemblies and House of Representatives of 16 districts, released on December 10, 2017, have shown victory for the communist alliance in 70 federal and 134 provincial constituencies with leading positions across 11 other federal and 20 provincial constituencies, so far.
Whereas, the ruling Nepali Congress has so far won 15 federal constituencies continuing the lead in another seven constituencies.
Meanwhile, the Madhes-based alliance registered 11 seats under the FPTP system.
According to the Election Commission, the FPTP electoral process saw election of 98 out of the total 1944 contestants.
74 of 165 parliamentary constituencies and 161 of 333 assembly constituencies have been covered with the FPTP results on December 10, 2017, informed EC.
Meanwhile, EC has called for framing of new laws for the formation of the National Assembly.
“We are not able to begin the process of electing National Assembly members without laws governing elections of NA members. We want new laws to be framed as soon as possible,” EC Spokesperson Navaraj Dhakal said on December 10, 2017.
Article 93 of the Nepali Constitution requires the first meeting of the Parliament and the National Assembly within 30 days of the announcement of parliamentary poll results.
Meanwhile, Bheshraj Adhikari, Personal Secretary of President Bidhya Devi Bhandari informed that “The National Assembly Election Ordinance is being considered by the President. She will take a call on this as soon as possible.”
The National Assembly Members Election Bill is currently under scrutiny following a difference between the ruling Nepali Congress and the communist parties of CPN-UML and Maoist Centre on the contents of the bill.
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]]>The post Nepal Legislative Elections 2017: Highlights and Salient Features appeared first on Nepali Sansar.
]]>Nepal’s legislative election 2017 has been a long-awaited aspect for Nepal and the world as well, as the country is expected to enter a new era of development with the upcoming elections.
Besides the formation of new constitution and unexpected political alliances that shook the country’s political landscape, this election has also opened avenues for various other interesting aspects.
In a major move, dozens of businessmen including the famous people have decided to foray into politics through the upcoming polls.
Majority of the business community people who acquired part tickets include industrialists, contractors, overseas and tourism entrepreneurs.
While a few are contesting for parliamentary seats, a substantial number of businessmen are also contesting in provincial polls.
Tek Bahadur Gurung (an overseas entrepreneur), Prakash Singh Karki (President of Nepal Freight Forwarders’ Association), Ramesh Dhamala (Former President of Trekking Agencies’ Association Nepal) are among many others from the business community contesting in the provincial and parliamentary polls.
In an announcement on November 02, 2017, the Nepali Army concluded that the formation of electoral alliances has significantly reduced the threat of political clashes during the upcoming polls.
The Army made this statement after a detailed analysis on the current security situation across the country, as per the individual departmental reports.
As per the government’s election security strategy, Army stands as the final security layer after temporary security staff, Nepali Police and Armed Police Force.
Moving away from traditional methods of pasting posters, writing on walls and distributing pamphlets, Nepali political parties and candidates started using digital and social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, among others for their election campaigns for upcoming polls.
Contesting candidates and their supporters were found to have inundated social media pages with their campaigning audio and video material.
The era of election posters is gone. The most effective publicity tool in the digital age is social media,” says Janaki Lal Basnet, NC’s provincial assembly candidate from the Dang District.
“I have been planning to expedite my poll campaign online,” says CPN-Maoist Center leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara.
“I have tried to modernize my poll publicity, using QR code even in traditional publicity tools,” says State Minister for Information and Communications Tapta Bahadur Bista.
Despite large expectations, the upcoming polls are most likely to register only a less percentage of women representatives in the Nepali Parliament, says Nepali Constitution experts.
While the current constitutional rules allow 33 percent women representation in Nepali Parliament, the constitutional experts feel that might not work out in the new constitution to be formed out of upcoming polls.
“If we assume that 55 women are elected in the House of Representatives and 22 in the Upper House that will mean only 77 women in the 334-member Parliament, 33 short of the required number,” says Chandra Kanta Gyawali, a constitutional expert.
According to Gyawali, the number of women contestants fielded looks concerning.
The political parties fielded only around 50 percent women candidates in the parliamentary PR polls, Gwayali adds.
The top three parties fielded only nine women contests women for the first phase of the parliamentary FPTP polls.
While the Nepali Election Commission is doubting 33 percent women seats in the Nepali Parliament, CPN-Maoist Centre claims to have fielded 60 women candidates under the PR list and UML claims that the party’s PR list has 60 percent women candidates.
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]]>The post Nepal Legislative Elections 2017: New Political Alliances and a Three-way Fight appeared first on Nepali Sansar.
]]>Nepal’s legislative election 2017, to be held in two phases on November 26 and December 7, 2017, is being considered as one of the key chapters in Nepali politics to end political turmoil and bring political transformation in the country.
This election holds significance as it also forms base for the formation of new Nepali Constitution that the country has been waiting for since more than two years.
While the Election Commission and the Government of Nepal are already busy in preparations, the candidates are brain storming for testing their luck!
Even though long-awaited, the actual heat around the legislative and parliamentary polls started with the announcement of unexpected broader alliances among leftist and democratic parties, respectively.
In a major move in the Nepali political landscape, the two major communist parties CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre formed a grand alliance and have already finalized their seat sharing in 165 parliamentary and 330 provincial constituencies for these First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) elections.
Both the partners have agreed upon a 60:40 seat sharing ratio with UML placing its candidates in 81 parliamentary constituencies and CPN-MC in 77 places, and independents in seven seats.
The left alliance filed its nominations for 37 Parliamentary FPTP constituencies in 32 districts that are set for election on November 26, 2017.
Apart from that, the Federal Democratic Forum-Nepal and Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal formed alliance in Province 2, and the two Madhes-based parties aligned and two Rastriya Prajatantra Parties aligned with the Nepali Congress in some constituencies.
Following leftist alliance, the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) had also announced of forming a seven-member democratic alliance to fight leftist alliance.
However, the announcement was a jolt to NC owing to the CPN-Maoist Centre party’s crucial coalition in the ruling government led by NC President and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.
Condemning the communist alliance, Deuba called on the citizens to vote for his Nepali Congress (NC) party.
“Like it or dislike it, the country needs the NC,” said Deuba at a public meeting held to announce the NC’s manifesto for parliamentary and provincial polls, while also reiterating his party’s commitment to effective functioning of federal governance in the country.
Besides NC and the new leftist alliance, there exists another political force of Madhes-based parties that hold strong base in Terai region.
Two important Madhes-based parties, Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal and Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-N), stood second and third, respectively, in the recently-held local elections of Province No 2, in southeastern Nepal.
In response to the Nepali authorities’ request, the European Union has deployed an Election Observation Mission (EOM) to Nepal to monitor the provincial and parliamentary polls for electing House of Representatives.
EU considers this as fulfilling its long-term commitment to Nepal as part of bilateral ties.
“It is a great honor for me to lead the EU Election Observation Mission to Nepal. The forthcoming elections are taking place under a new political and electoral system. I’m very committed to accompany Nepal in this important phase of its democratic process,” says Ms Zeljana Zovko, Chief Observer of EOM.
EU had appointed similar missions in 2008 and 2013 as well.
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