Election Commission staff checking voter’s details during the general election in Kathmandu, Nepal | Photo Credit: AP
On 20 November, there were general elections in nepalThis is the second time since the promulgation of the Nepal Constitution of 2015. It was also the first time in Nepal’s history that a parliament had completed a five-year term, even though legislative activities had been conducted for barely 18 months. In the last elections, the communist forces united and won the elections, leaving the Nepali Congress as a peaceful opposition. There was no end to the intra-party strife, which is a prominent feature of Nepalese politics, and the ruling party was split. It then attempted to dissolve Parliament twice, but only to be reinstated by the Supreme Court. The President also became very active, being part of the pressure to dissolve the Parliament and not approve the Citizenship Bill.
November 2022 parliamentary election saw a strange pre-election alliance between two communist parties that broke away from the ruling coalition of the Nepali Congress and the main Nepal Communist Party, namely the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Socialist). , This alliance was awkward as some of the biggest killings took place during the Maoist insurgency (when Sher Bahadur Deuba was prime minister); The Maoists killed a large number of Nepali Congress workers. The other pre-election coalition was led by the Communist Party of Nepal–Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) and included the Janata Samajwadi Party (a splinter group of several combinations of Madhesi parties) and the royal Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Prajatantra Party (RPP). ,
The Parliament of Nepal has 275 seats, of which 165 are held under direct election by First Past the Post (FPTP) and 110 through Proportional Representation (PR), for which each party submits a list before the election. Voting takes place using two separate ballots – voting for the candidate and then voting for the party. Now, 61% of the eligible 17,988,57 voters voted for the election.
make way for the new
NC has won the maximum number of seats, thus improving its tally as compared to last year – 86 seats now as compared to 63 seats in the previous elections. The UML, which had won 121 seats in the last elections, could win only 78 seats this time. In the last parliament, the Maoist Center with 53 seats had to be satisfied with 31 seats. The CPN-US, which broke away from the UML, is struggling to obtain national party status as it has yet to garner the required 3% of the national vote. To become a national party and get nomination from PR list. The CPN-US had 31 seats when it split from the CPN-UML and has now reduced to 10.
The royalist RPP won 14 seats in the parliament from just one, which is also a sign of the rise of right-wing politics in Nepal. Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is a party that was registered just five months ago, in July, and led by Rabi Lamichhane, a television anchor, inspired by the victory of young independent leaders during the local elections held in May 2022. Can bring independent candidates. They managed to make an impact by winning 21 seats. Similarly, in Terai, the Nepal Janmat Party led by CK Raut won just one seat outright, but gained four more seats, gaining national party status. Similarly, a new party in western Nepal, the Nagrik Immunti Party, won three seats. One of the biggest takeaways from this year’s election is how Madhesi parties have lost their stronghold in the Terai, giving way to either new parties or existing mainstream parties.
clear message
There are four messages. Earlier people were fed up with the same faces who have been ruling in Nepal in a system like playing musical chairs, making alliances of convenience. They were willing to experiment with new sets of leaders from existing parties as well as new parties.
Second, independents have had a huge impact as people realized that elections could be fought on shoestring budgets if one was a good communicator. He raised very simple issues of governance, tackling corruption, fighting privilege and just doing his job. The mascots for these independents were the mayors of Kathmandu and Dharan, both independents trying to do a lot of work.
Third, the people were not fully agreed on the formula of the alliance. They did not want to vote for rival parties against whom they had been voting for decades. For example, how can an NC cadre whose family was killed by Maoists during insurgency vote for CPN-Maoist? For those who had voted for their party’s candidate in the direct elections, the PR decided to side with the Swatantra Party in the PR voting as they did not like the way their parties prepared the PR lists.
Fourth, Nepal does not allow people living outside the country to vote as all political parties are against allowing postal ballots. This time, people living outside Nepal inspired their family members to vote for independent candidates and the RPP was probably influenced by new and firebrand leaders speaking out on social media platforms.
What should New Delhi pay attention to?
So, what does this mean for India? For New Delhi, it will have to deal with a new situation: new faces after decades. It is a new generation of young Nepalese who see a world beyond India. They have been educated or worked outside the subcontinent. They are digitally connected to different parts of the world, for them India is just another country.
India has always relied on its intelligence agencies or retired diplomats as interlocutors when it comes to having credible contacts in Nepal or understanding the perspective about Nepal. There is also a media gap; Most of the media houses do not have permanent correspondent in Nepal. And, social media has disrupted how information is created or used.
In a country where 70% of the population is under 40 and 50% under 25, the blockade still lingers in memory and has resulted in the alienation of an entire generation of Nepalese. For some people educated outside Nepal and who have come back, they cannot understand why India behaves in a certain way as if the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) report was rejected. Many of those who asked these questions are now in Parliament. They have also questioned the MCC grant and various works by development partners in Nepal. India and the rest of the international community will have to change the way they deal with Nepal.
Therefore, more engagement will be needed to understand the new group of people, who are certainly being led by the old group. Creating a conducive environment for exchange of ideas and people and setting the stage for the next steps in relationship building will also be important.
Sujeev Shakya is the author of the books, ‘Unleashing Nepal’ and ‘Unleashing the Vajra’