Nepal's Electoral History : : Elections in Nepal : : Nepal Election Portal

Nepal's Electoral History

Nepal's First Election

Nepal doesn't have a long history of elections. The first ever election held in Nepal was the 1948 municipal election. During the first phase of democracy in the country from 1951 to 1960, elections to the Local Village Administration Body or the Gaun Panchayat were held.

Nepal's first parliamentary election took place in 1958 to elect the 109 members of the parliament. It was Nepal's first experiment with general elections. The People's Representative Act of 1958 was promulgated to govern the election. The act defined the electoral process, candidates' qualification and criteria as well as the constituencies.

Nepali citizens who had attained 21 years of age were given the right to vote. The total number of voters was 4,246,468 at that time. There were 11 to 54 polling booths used for one constituency in the 1958 parliamentary election. The number of voters in a constituency ranged from 52,037 to 23,467.

Nine political parties participated in the election. Altogether 786 candidates contested the election, among them 268 were independent. In this election, Nepali Congress won the majority with 74 seats in parliament whereas Nepal Rastriya Gorkha Parishad, the main opposition party in the parliament, got 19 seats. Samuykta Communist Party-Nepal got 5 seats and Nepal Communist Party had 4 members in the first elected parliament of Nepal. Nepal Praja Parisad (Acharya) had won 2 seats and Nepal Praja Parisad (Mishra) had 1 seats and 4 independent candidate were elected. Only one among all these elected names was a woman: Dwarika Devi Thakurani.

The Panchayat Elections

With the promulgation of a news Constitution in 1062, king Mahendra wielded absolute power through village, district and national councils. Political parties and organizations were outlawed. In March 1963, an indirect election for parliament was held, which was called the Rastriya Panchayat. Few people voted in the election in which the general public had almost no say.

This parliament was dissolved by King Mahendra after two years and it took more that 30 years for the next parliamentary election with the participation of political parties, to be held in Nepal. During the Party-less Panchyat System elections to Local bodies and Rastriya Panchyat were held, in which only independent candidates were allowed to contest. Those who cast the ballot were the affluent class.

In 1979, following student's revolt against Panchayat's repressive measures, King Birendra announced a National Referendum to decide on a continuation of the Panchayat system or a return to multi-party democracy. The referendum was held in 1980. In the choice between the forms of governance, the results went in favour of retaining the partly-less Panchayat system, with certain modifications. The referendum, the first nationwide vote in twenty-two years, was held on May 2, 1980. The voters turnout was 67 %. The Panchayat system was chosen with a majority of 54.7 percent of the votes.

On May 21, 1980, the King formed a Constitution Reform Commission. 11 members were appointed to the commission, chaired by the acting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. On December 15, the king promulgated three constitutional amendments: direct elections to the Rastriya Panchayat would be held every five years for 112 seats with 28 additional seats filled by the King's personal nomination; the Prime Minister would be elected by the Rastriya Panchayat; and the cabinet would be appointed by the King on the recommendation of the Prime Minister and would be accountable to the Rastirya Panchayat.

It was Nepali people's first experience of a referendum. The changes introduced in the constitution, as a result of the referendum, established the general public's right to suffrage, enabling all Nepalis to vote in the general elections of 1981 and 1986.

Elections under the amended Constitution were held in 1981 and in 1986 for the Rastriya Panchyat. There were 1,096 candidates contesting 112 seats in the 1981 election. Voters turnout was 63 percent. As the political parties were banned in that period, even those affiliated with different parties contested the election as independent candidates. Out of the 75 districts, the Rastriya Panchayat members were elected on the bases of the population size of the districts. Every district was considered a constituency. For the 112 seats in the Rastriya Panchayat, one or two members were elected from every district, depending on its population size.

The Rastriya Panchayat election for 1986 was conducted in a similar fashion. A little more than 9 million voters cast their ballots for 1,584 candidates running for 112 seats. 60% voters turnout was recorded. The General Election of 1986 led to nine Leftists being elected to the House. Only 40% of the previously elected members retained their seats. Nepali Congress boycotted the election. Some NC members participated in the 1981 election as independent candidates. Several members of the then outlawed parties were elected. 3 women were elected to the Rastirya Panchayat from the Terai region.

Local elections were also held under the Panchayat system in 1987.

First Democratic Elections

After the people's movement in 1990, democracy was restored to the country. Within a year a new constitution was crafted, which guaranteed freedom to form political parties. The following year in 1991 Nepal held another general election for 205 Parliamentary members. The country was divided into 205 electoral areas. 44 out of a total of 47 political parties that had applied, were registered with the Election Commission for participation. Although 44 parties were recognized by the Election Commission, only twenty parties actually contested the elections. The twenty parties ranged from radical right to leftists. 12 parties did not win a single seat and obtained a total of only about 82,500 votes, slightly more than 1 percent of the total valid votes.

The Nepali Congress Party won the first multiparty election in thirty-two years, taking 110 seats in the 205-member House of Representatives. The results of the elections showed that a coalition of various Communist parties was a major political force in Nepalese politics. The Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist), a constituent of the United Left Front, won 69 seats. The Rastriya Prajatantrik Party headed by Lokendra Bahadur Chand won three 3 and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party headed by Surya Bahadur Thapa won only 1 seat. Nepal Sadbhavna Party won 6 seats. Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party won 2 seats. Samyukta Janamorch won 9. Communist Party of Nepal Democratic won 2. Independent candidates took the remaining 3 seats.

The election witnessed a heavy voter turnout. Of a total of more than 11 million voters, about 7 million (65,15 %) cast ballots. More than 4 percent of the total votes were declared invalid on technical grounds. The election results made it clear that the monarchists and those in favor of the panchayat system lacked national support. Communist parties won in the Kathmandu Valley and some parts of the eastern Tarai Region. The Nepali Congress Party won in other parts of the Tarai Region and in western Nepal.

The new House of Representatives included thirteen members of the dissolved Rashtriya Panchayat, five Muslims, seven women, and six members of the Parliament that had been dissolved in 1960. Out of the five seats in Kathmandu, the Nepali Congress Party won one seat; the rest were swept by the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist). In the contest for a seat in Kathmandu, the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) General Secretary, Madan Bhandari, defeated interim Prime Minister K.P. Bhattarai. Girija Prasad Koirala from Nepali Congresss became the new Prime MInister.

Six deaths in pre-election violence were reported, but no election-related deaths were confirmed on the polling day. Police enforced a curfew during the long wait for election results. Because of election irregularities and violence, the Election Commission, ordered re-polling at 44 of 8,225 polling centers, affecting 31 constituencies.

A host of foreign observers, representing twenty-two countries, came to Nepal on the invitation of the interim government. The international delegation concluded that the elections generally were conducted in a fair and free manner. The observation teams also concluded that from 5 to 10 percent of eligible voters were not registered and that there were some inaccuracies in the voter lists, which was also confirmed by the Election Commission.

In the 1992 Local Elections, Nepal Congress again won the majority of seats. The party won 50,614 seats, which represents 50.14% of the total number of seats. The local bodies are divided into 3 sections. District Development Committees comprise 1,077 members, including 75 District Development Chairpersons. There are altogether 58 municipalities (Kathmandu among them is the only Metropolitan city), from which, 4,147 members should be elected. Likewise, there are 3,913 VDCs, out of which 183,911 should be elected.

In 1994, mid-term elections were held, following a no- confidence motion in the parliament against the Nepali Congress. 11 million voters turned out in 14 thousand polling centres. Altogether 24 political parties contested the election. There were 1,442 candidates, among them 385 were independent. Out of a total of 205 seats, UML secured 88 seats while Nepali Congress secured 83 seats. Rastriya Prajatantra Party secured 20 seats, Nepal Sadbhavna 3 and Majdoor Kisan Party secured 4. Independent candidates secured 7 seats.

The coalition government of CPN-UML and RPP conducted the election for Village Development Committee, municipalities and District Development Committees in 1997. UML won 51.02 % seats at the VDC level, 56% at the municipalities and over 80% at the DDC level. The UML won 93,899 seats out of a total of 188,018 seats. Nepali Congress won 54, 317 seats, which represents 30. 01% seats and Rastriya Prajatantra Party won 12.6%, while Nepal Sadbhavna Party won just 5.09% of the total seats.

General Elections 1999

The third general election since the democratic movement of 1990, took place in 1999. It came after a 5 year term of the elected parliament. The election witnessed a voters turnout of 13,518,839. Thirty nine parties contested the election. There were altogether 2, 238 candidates, among them 143 were female. Turnout was recorded at 65.79%.

Nepali Congress secured 113 seats, while UML won 68 seats. Rastriya Prajatantra Party won 12 and Nepal Sadbhavna Party got 5 seats. Majdoor Kisan Party and Samyukta Janamorcha won only one seat each. Rastriya Janmorcha won 5 seats. Out of the total seats secured, 12 were won by female candidates.

No elections were recorded between 1999 to 2006, until the controversial municipal election conducted in the King's regime. Local elections that should have been conducted in 2002 and the parliamentary election slated for 2004 failed to take place as the political stalemate heightened.

Municipal Elections 2006

The municipal Election under the Royal regime was held on 8, February 2006. The election witnessed a record low turnout of just 20 percent. The voters were mainly royal regime supporters or the government officials who voted under the fear of dismissal from their positions. The seven main parties, which controlled 90 percent of seats in the parliament before its dissolution, denounced the poll as a farce and boycotted it.

More than half of the positions out of the total of 4,146 positions for election had no candidates. Some had just one candidate, making them automatic winners. Only 15% of the posts were contested. 3,255 candidates filed nominations for elections, out of which 600 withdrew in a period of just 2 days. Some complained that their names had been put on the election list, under duress. The election took place under heavy security. Journalists were banned from observing the polls. Pro-monarchists parties swept the polls.