The historic agreement between Prime Minister G P Koirala and Maoist chairman Prachanda on November 8 has accepted Mixed System (MS) for the constituent assembly (CA) elections. The First Past the Post (FPtP) system of election will be adopted for 205 seats, while elections for 204 seats will be held under the MS. The MS is a mixture of two electoral systems — the FPtP and the PR system. The MS is of two kinds — Mixed Member Proportional System (MMP) and Parallel system.

The MMP is a form of semi-proportional system, as it produces results that will never be fully proportional in translating the votes received and the seats won by the parties contesting elections. The seats (about 50 per cent) being contested on the basis of FPtP system will also never be proportional as has been found in previous elections. But the rest of the seats to be contested under the PR system will definitely guarantee proportionality. Thus, the final result will be semi-proportional. The November 8 agreement has a provision for Mixed System. It is not clear whether it will be MMP or Parallel.

Significantly, there is a crucial distinction between Parallel and MMP. Under the MMP, the list of PR seats compensate for any disproportionality produced by the district seat results under FPtP component as the parties having no seats or less seats will be awarded enough seats from the national PR lists to bring their representation up to approximation in the CA. This system is being used in nine countries, including Germany and New Zealand. Out of nine countries, eight use FPtP system and one (Hungary) uses Run off (TR) system. It is yet to be decided as to which is to be followed in the context of CA elections.

Parallel system is being used in 21 countries. Armenia, Guinea (Cconakry), Japan, South Korea, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, the Scychelles, Thailand, Timore-Lesteand, and Ukraine use the FPtP single-member districts alongside a List PR component, while Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania and Tajikistan use the Two-Round System for the single-member district component of their systems.

Mixed system consisting of MMP plus Parallel Systems has some serious inherent demerits. This system is a complicated one. It requires boundary delimitation, which is not required for Nepal right now. It often calls for by-election. It creates two classes of representatives and it is very difficult to arrange absentee voting in it.

Under Mixed System, apart from getting only semi-proportional representation, the constituency-wise result will be unexpected because of the very nature of the FPtP. In it, a candidate securing the highest votes gets elected even by a margin of one vote. It might create confusion in the minds of the illiterate voters regarding two ballot papers meant for two separate components, one for individual and another for the party.

But Germany uses only one ballot paper since its every voter is literate enough to read and distinguish between the PR list and the FPtP name list. However, Nepal can hardly afford it as illiterate voters cannot express their choices by separately ticking the names of the candidate and the party he wishes to vote for. The use of two ballot papers will also be difficult, but there is no alternative.

Interestingly, the voters whose candidates will be elected under the FPtP component will be doubly benefited whereas the majority of the voters, who are losers, will not be equally benefited. Of course, they will be proportionally represented under List PR component. Moreover, the parties contesting election under FPtP will not be sure of the victory of its candidates as they field only those candidates whose chances of victory are more and not on the basis of inclusiveness. Hence, full inclusiveness will be a far cry.

The use of the PR system and especially the National List PR system is fraught with practical difficulties. When the number of parties contesting elections is large, it will create problems regarding the size of ballot papers. This will pose a big headache for an illiterate voter. Hence, Regional List PR system is more practical.

The regional list system should be based on the following considerations. Firstly, one region should not have more than 15 to 20 seats (It may comprise three to four districts). Secondly, regional boundary should be based on language, ethnic proximity and easily approachable areas (Delimitation is not required now. The existing boundaries are not be disturbed. Districts have to be clubbed together for election purposes). Thirdly, the political parties, formed on the basis of regional basis, should be allowed to contest election.

Consequently, the size of the ballot papers will be manageable for peaceful voting by illiterate voters. Local people will be represented by their representatives and one of the demands of the Maoists, granting autonomy to ethnic and cultural groups, will be met. It will be the first step towards state restructuring.

Prof. Mishra is ex-election commissioner