ECN asks pol. parties to submit PR candidates' list

 Kathmandu, Sept. 11

The Election Commission, Nepal (ECN) has asked the political parties to submit the closed list of candidates for the proportional electoral system (PES) for the election of the House of Representatives (HoR) and Provincial Assembly from September 18 to 19.

The general elections are being held on Noember 20 this year.

Spokesperson of the Proportional Electoral System at the ECN, Guru Prasad Wagle, informed in a statement on Sunday evening that the electoral body would investigate the list for the PES submitted to it from September 20-25, and inform the concerned political parties to make corrections in the list.  

Following it, political parties will have seven-day period – September 26 to October 2 – to make corrections in the list and submit to the ECN.

The HoR is comprised of 275 members – 165 come from the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) and 110 from closed list of proportional representation. The closed list submitted by a political party to the ECN must have 10 per cent of the total PR seats.

There are 550 seats for the HoR and Provincial Assembly, 330 seats for FPTP and 220 for PR.

The ECN said that the political parties should summit the list consisting of the number of candidates as provisioned by the election laws. The list will be examined by the chief election officer.

Likewise, according to the constitution, political parties should include at least 50 per cent candidates for the PR election both for the HoR and Provincial Assembly. Likewise, in addition to the 50 per cent women in the list, the parties should ensure the inclusion of dalit, indigenous people, Khas Arya, Madhesi, Tharu and Muslim.

There should be 13.8 per cent dalit, 28.7 per cent indigenous people, 31.2 per cent Khas Arya, 15.3 per cent Madhesi, 6.6 per cent Tharu and 4.4 per cent Muslim candidates in the list of PR for the HoR.

To get their candidates elected to the federal and provincial parliaments, a party must garner at least 3 per cent and 1.5 per cent of the total valid PR votes. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 12 September 2022.