Post the completion of first phase polls with 65 percent voter turnout on November 26, 2017, Nepal went on for the final phase of its most-awaited parliamentary and provincial polls across 15,344 polling centers in 45 districts.

A total of 4,482 candidates including 1,663 candidates for 128 parliamentary seats and 2,819 for 256 provincial assembly seats contested in the final phase that has involved around 12.1 million eligible voters, nearly 80% of the Nepali population.

This is the first election conducted for Nepali Parliament and Provincial Assembly after the new constitution was promulgated in 2015.

Public Response

All sections of Nepali society eagerly participated in Nepal’s 2017 provincial and parliamentary elections.

“I am voting after many years because there is new hope in the country with the establishment of provinces,” said Iswor Prasad Shrestha (70), a Nepali businessman.

Kedar Sharan Raya, a retired senior lawyer, said, “I am here to vote today because it is the first election for provinces with the hope these provincial governments will be able to deliver development.”

Election observers from foreign countries did not report any discrepancies in the electoral process.

It’s Counting Time!

The Election Commission (EC) of Nepal has promised to complete the vote counting process within two weeks from the day of election conclusion.

“Counting of votes of both parliamentary and provincial FPTP elections and both parliamentary and provincial Proportional Representation (PR) elections can begin together. We are confident that the counting could be completed, if there is no obstacle or setback within the set deadline,” says the Election Commissioner Ishwori Prasad Poudel.

 “Vote counting should be done at the earliest. Therefore, we have issued orders from center to all the vote counting centers,” reads a statement by the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Ayodhee Prasad Yadav, who said the First-Past-The-Post (FTFP) voting will be out in a week from the date of completion of election.

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While the three-tier local body polls were held on May 14, June 28 and September 19 of the current year, the most-awaited general elections for electing members for the provincial and parliamentary seats are currently underway in two phases (November 26 and December 7, 2017).

These two elections are important for Nepal for two reasons: One being the socio-political transformation that the Nepali citizens have been waiting for since around two decades and the other being the country witnessing these many number of elections in a single year for the first time in its history.

Local Body Polls

Nepal’s local body polls 2017 drew a huge response from the governments across the world, such as Japan, US, India, among others, which acclaimed that as Nepal’s major step towards its long-awaited development process.

“This is a significant progress towards the implementation of the constitution that was promulgated in 2015,” said the Government of Japan.

“Most importantly, Nepal held the first local elections in 20 years – a significant milestone for your democratic government,” stated the US President Donald Trump.

Upon the completion of local body elections, the United Nations had also hailed Nepal for its efforts towards institutionalizing democratic process through local body polls.

The local body election that concluded with the final phase on September 19, 2017 left its mark registering a record voter turnout.

Provincial and Parliamentary Polls

The intense election heat that began with the local body polls at the start of the Nepal new year 2074 in May continues till date currently in the form of the country’s general provincial and parliamentary polls that are underway.

This legislative election, also termed as the general election, began with the first phase polls that was conducted on November 26, 2017 across 37 constituencies of the House of Representatives and 74 provincial assembly constituencies.

The final phase is slated for December 7, 2017 and will cover 45 districts of the Tarai and hill areas for electing a total of 128 seats for the House of Representatives and 256 provincial assembly seats.

Nepal legislative election 2017 is being seen as a game-changer for Nepal as the country is most likely to witness an end to its long political and social turmoil along with the formation of new constitution.

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