2022 Nepalese General Election

General elections are expected to be held in Nepal in November 2022 unless the House of Representatives is dissolved earlier. The discussion is underway due to interest of leading Nepali Congress while the opposition, CPN (UML), is already demanding a fresh mandate.

Dissolution and reinstatement

Although the House was dissolved on 20 December 2020 by President Bidya Devi Bhandari on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers, with elections scheduled for 30 April and 10 May 2021, the legitimacy of the dissolution was challenged in the Supreme Court. On 23 February 2021, the court reinstated the House of Representatives, but it was dissolved again on 22 May 2021 by the president on the recommendation of the cabinet, with elections scheduled for 12 and 19 November, stating no one had adequate claim to be appointed prime minister according to Article 76(5) of the Constitution. On 12 July 2021, the Supreme Court ruled the dissolution invalid, and reinstated the House of Representatives, while also ordering the appointment of Sher Bahdur Deuba as prime minister, as per article 76(5).

Background

The fifth House of Representatives elected in 2017 had a five year term ending in March 2023. In May 2018, the CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) and CPN (Maoist Centre) parties merged to form the Nepal Communist Party. The merger between the two coalition partners took their total strength in the House of Representatives to 174. The leaders of the two parties had an agreement to share the post of Prime Minister with the CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) chairman KP Sharma Oli handing over the post to CPN (Maoist Centre) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal after two and a half years. On 20 November 2019, the two leaders agreed to let Oli complete his full term as prime minister. In a secretariat meeting of the Nepal Communist Party on 14 November 2020, Dahal presented a political document which accused Oli not following party orders and being individualistic. In response to Dahal, Oli rejected Dahal's accusations and presented his own political document which accused Dahal of not letting Oli run the government. As the strife within the party continued, Oli requested President Bidhya Devi Bhandari to dissolve the House of Representatives on 20 December 2020 as a no-confidence motion was being prepared against him. In protest of the decision by Oli, seven ministers of the cabinet resigned.

The House was reinstated on 23 February 2021 but on 7 March 2021, deciding on a separate writ, the Supreme Court annulled the decision of the Election Commission to grant the name Nepal Communist Party to the party created by merger of the CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) and CPN (Maoist Centre), and positioned them to their pre merger status. The CPN (Maoist Centre) withdrew its support from the government on 5 May 2021 and Oli failed to obtain a vote of confidence while a faction of his own party boycotted the vote.

On 13 May 2021, Oli was appointed minority Prime Minister as the leader of the party in parliament with the highest seats. Rather than retake a vote of confidence, Oli started the process of formation of government through provision of Article 76(5), which is currently being challenged in the Supreme Court. Sher Bahadur Deuba claimed signed support of 149 MPs, including 26 from the CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) and 13 from the People's Socialist Party, Nepal. Oli claimed support of all MPs of the CPN (UML) and the People's Socialist Party, Nepal. President Bhandari decided on 22 May 2021 that both claims were inadequate and announced the dissolution of House, leading to widespread opposition. On 12 July 2021, the Supreme Court ruled the dissolution of parliament invalid, while ordering the appointment of Deuba as Prime Minister, as per article 76(5), by submitting 149 signatures to the President, which is a majority of 271 members present in the House.

Electoral system

The 275 members of the legislature will be elected by two methods; 165 will be elected from single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting and 110 seats will be elected by closed list proportional representation from a single nationwide constituency. Voters receive separate ballot papers for the two methods. A party or electoral alliance has to pass the election threshold of 3% of the overall valid vote to be allocated a seat in the proportional vote.

Nepal uses the Sainte-Laguë method to allocate proportional seats. Typically, the divisors under this system include all odd numbers (1, 3, 5, 7...). But in Nepal, the first divisor is 1.4, rather than 1. This is intended to make it difficult for smaller parties to get a single seat "too cheaply" as the system benefits smaller parties at the expense of larger ones.

Voting is limited to Nepali citizens aged 18 or over of sound mind and not having been declared ineligible under federal election fraud and punishment laws.

Parties

Current composition

Alliance

Democratic alliance

Internally, talks are underway between Nepali Congress and Loktantrik Samajwadi Party for a probable alliance in both federal and provincial level. A coordination committee of three members is formed to discuss on seat sharing and fulfilling demand of Madhesh.

Left alliance

CPN (UML) alliance

Rastriya Prajatantra Party alliance

Others

See also

* 2021 split in Nepalese Communist Parties
* 2021 split in the People's Socialist Party, Nepal
* Pir

References

{{Nepalese elections

Nepal
General
General elections in Nepal