The Provincial Assembly announcement came after 52 of 60 lawmakers endorsed Pokhara as the provincial capital after the region gained acceptance with two-third majority in the Assembly.

While Nepal Communist Party Lawmaker Krishna Bahadur Thapa proposed the motion, Nepali Congress Mani Bhadra Sharma supported the move before the Deputy Speaker Srijana Sharma finally declared the region as the headquarters of Province 4. 

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister for Industry, Tourism, Forest and Environment Bikash Lamsal called on the related stakeholders to work for conservation of Pokhara’s beauty. 

We have to rally behind the greater Pokhara concept including Kusma, Phalebas, Putalibazar, Madhyabindu and Suklagandaki, says Bikash Lamsal

In the parliamentary committee report formed to study the proposed capitals of Province 4, 93.87 percent voted for Pokhara with only 3.99 percent in favor of Gorkha and other regions.  

Following a study covering all 11 districts, the committee headed by Thapa tabled its final report in the Provincial Assembly on June 24, 2018. 

The committee was formed on March 26, 2018 and covered a total of 751 individuals from all the districts over the selection of name and capital for the province.  

As part of the survey, the panel also considered recommendations from political parties in the Assembly, social organizations and memorandums submitted to it. 

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Backed by the Left Alliance, Bhandari (56) fought back the Nepali Congress’ Presidential candidate Kumari Laxmi Rai with a grand majority.

Since the time she filed her nomination for the post, Bhandari has been receiving a positive response for her candidature from various political parties.

Bhandari’s victory is majorly attributed to the strong support by the ruling Left alliance (CPN-UML and CPN-MC), Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal and other political parties.

While CPN-UML has a 23,356 vote-bank with 243 lawmakers in Provincial Assemblies and 148 in the Federal Parliament, its alliance CPN-MC has 108 lawmakers in Provincial Assemblies and 65 lawmakers in the Parliament accounting to a 10,319 vote-bank.

Samajbadi Forum-Nepal and other parties favouring Bhandari’s candidature also hold a decent vote bank.

Whereas, Nepali Congress, the prime opposition of Left Alliance, has a vote bank comprising of
11,248 members together with 113 Provincial Assembly seats and 76 Parliamentary seats.

With this situation in place, garnering a majority vote bank against the Nepali Congress candidate was not a herculean task for Bhandari.

While Bhandari garnered a total of 39,275 votes, Rai lost it out at 11,730 votes, says the Election Commission of Nepal.

Earlier, Nepali Congress had also fielded Man Bahadur in the Presidential race.

Overall, a total of 334 the Federal Parliamentary members including 275 members of the House of Representatives, 59 National Assembly members and 550 Provincial Assembly members were eligible for this election.

Bhandari is the first woman president to Nepal elected in 2015 and has also been elected twice to the parliament in 1994 and 1999.

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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.

PR Counting Underway

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.

Decline in Women Representatives

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.

Brainstorming Begins

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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A total of 4,482 candidates are competing in this phase that is being held at 15,344 polling centers across 45 districts of the country.

The first phase, held on November 26, 2017, was held across 32 districts.

While the first round saw around 65 percent voter participation, the Nepal Election Commission (EC) expects the second phase polls to register more than 70 percent turnout with over 12.2 million voters exercising their vote.

The completion of this First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) election will result in formation of Federal Parliament at the Center and Provincial Assemblies across seven provinces of the country as planned in the new constitution in 2015.

The counting process will also begin the same day in the evening.

A Worth-waiting Election

The world governments, especially the bordering nations, are eagerly watching this landmark election of Nepal.

“I think the party I feel like voting [for] is popular because it strongly claims Nepal as a nation that is capable of bringing those golden days of Nepal back, where Nepal stood economically, socially and politically strong without aid dependency,” says Lawyer Jyoti Singh Bhandari.

“The Election Commission calls on all eligible voters to take part in the elections to convey a strong message to those who are against the implementation of the constitution as well as political stability in the country,” reads a statement by the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Ayodhee Prasad Yadav.

While Nepal has saw a governmental transition 26 times in the past 28 years, many hope this election would end long-standing political turmoil and open ways for new Nepali constitution, while also bringing in needed development across the country.

The post Nepal General Election 2017: Final Phase of Landmark Polls Across 45 Districts appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Here are the some of the key updates in the wake of final round of elections:

Silence Period Underway

In the wake of legislative elections for electing House of Representatives and Provincial Assemblies, The Election Commission (EC) of Nepal announced the silence period during December 4-7, 2017.

Campaigning, poll surveys, airing of any material in favor or against any political party, among other election-related activities have been banned as part of the election code of conduct during the silence period.

However, publishing and distribution of voter education materials, information or any related message, among others by EC are out of restriction.

Borders Sealed for 72 hours

As part of security measures for Nepal general election 2017, the country’s local administration has closed public movement across 22 border points.

The Government of Nepal sealed borders for 72 hours starting from December 05, 2017.

While a large number of people were stranded at the Kakadbhitta border point, DSP Tanka Bhattarai of the Area Police Office, Kakadbhitta, says, “Those carrying Nepali citizenship and identity cards are only allowed to enter Nepal. The border is open for those traveling to India.”

“Besides the closure of our customs office, we’ve also stepped up security ahead of the polls,” says Binod Prakash Singh, Chief District Officer of Parsa.

Bhadrapur in Nepal’s eastern border with Bihar state and a 500-km long Indo-Nepal border connecting Uttar Pradesh are among those closed.

The closed borders will be reopened from the midnight of December 07, 2017.

Special Transportation for Voters

To ease the voting process, political parties have booked 80 percent public vehicles to transport voters from Kathmandu to their home districts, informed the Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs.

The political parties have already made reservations in this regard, informed Dolanath Khanal, FNNTE President.

Condemning the parties’ move, “Taking voters to their home districts with an aim to influence their vote is gross violation of the election code of conduct,” says Navaraj Dhakal, EC Spokesperson.

Rise in Fuel Import Prices

Nepal’s fuel import bill during the October-November of 2017 has gone up 40 percent in the light of general elections thus impacting the election campaigning activities involving vehicular movement.

According to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), the fuel import bill touched Rs 7.44 billion and Rs 8.30 billion in August and September, respectively, which increased to Rs 10.17 billion by October and further to Rs 13.18 billion in November.

The import bills of petrol, cooking gas, diesel and aviation fuel have gone up during the period.

While diesel import has increased from 100,447 kiloliters during August-September period to 141,054 kiloliters by mid October-November period, petrol imports saw a 20 percent rise in the last two months and stood at 42,000 kiloliters.

Human Rights Alerts

In the wake of recent blasts that targeted few political party members and poll contestants, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) urged the government to tighten poll security.

In this regard, NHRC has also deployed its special team to take stock of the victims affected in recent blasts.

Meanwhile, the renowned international human rights body Amnesty International (AI) also urged the Nepali Government to ensure safety and security of public and human rights.

“AI Nepal notes with concern the recent attacks targeting political leaders and campaigners with explosive devices that have resulted in numerous injuries and one death in Dang,” AI Nepal said in a statement.

Nirajan Thapaliya, Director of Amnesty International Nepal, said, “There should be an independent and effective investigation into incidents of violence, and the suspected perpetrators should be held accountable through fair trials.”

Special Observation Teams, Security High on Agenda

EC has allowed a total of 45,000 members to monitor the observe and monitor the final phase of election.

This includes 52 domestic observing institutions and four international observer groups.

Besides, the Nepal Election Observation Committee (NEOC) is deploying more than 2,000 observers to monitor the elections across 45 districts.

“Considering the ongoing explosions, we are focusing more on election security. We have a team of experts on security. We are not only paying attention to the election day but also to the days before and after the elections,” says Kapil Shrestha, Vice-Chairperson, NEOC.

Shrestha further informed that a special focus will also be laid on other issues such as booth captures and multiple voting that impact free and fair elections.

Election Observation Committee Nepal (EOCN) and Democracy Resource Centre (DRC) are among other government bodies that are tracking security situation, political environment, electoral process and voter awareness, among other aspects.

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