Speaks of having in place FPTP system for HoR and PR system for National Assembly
KATHMANDU, JUNE 10
Former prime minister and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba broached the idea of changing the electoral system so that members of the House of Representatives could be elected through first-past-the-post system and members of the National Assembly through Proportional Representation system.
At present 40 per cent members of the HoR are elected under PR and 56 out of 59 members of the NA are elected by electoral college comprising HoR members and province assembly members. They are elected through single transferable vote system.
Addressing a party cadres' meet here today, Deuba said it would be better if members of the HoR were elected through FPTP system and NA members through PR system, but for that the constitution should be amended and that could happen only when other political parties agreed.
Central Committee member of CPN-MC Shivram Yadav said his party favoured a fully proportional election system. "FPTP system can ensure election of majority members of ethnic groups who have enough money to spend during election and hence we cannot support this system," Yadav said and added that deprived communities and minorities could not win FPTP election.
There are more than 100 countries that use either PR or a mixed election system across the world. Less than 50 use FPTP system.
Professor Kapil Shrestha said Deuba might have broached the idea of a PR-less HoR to avoid the situation of hung parliament.
"Under the current political system, no one party can win majority in the Lower House of the Parliament. So the 40 per cent ratio can be brought down to 25 per cent," he said and added that if the ratio of PR percentage was reduced in the HoR, proportional representation of marginalised communities should be ensured in the NA, or else the Khas Arya community which dominates all organs of state will again have higher percentage of representation in the NA as well.
Shrestha said Deuba and top leaders of other political parties had defamed the PR system as they picked their relatives and favourites as PR nominees, rather than giving chance to the most deserving people.
Spokesperson for Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal Manish Kumar Suman said that his party favoured fully proportional election system to address the current woes afflicting the country's political system.
People of marginalised communities and minorities cannot contest FPTP elections because candidates run very expensive election campaign, Suman said and added that only dominant communities and moneyed candidates could win in the FPTP system.
Nepal adopted the mixed election system after the 2006 popular movement as proportional inclusion and empowerment of marginalised communities were the main agenda of the CPN-MC, and Madhesi and Janajati forces had strongly raised these issues.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 11, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
