There are issues of the virtually non-functioning provincial structure, too high government regular expenditure, and the economy's inability to boost prodution

The 2015 Federal Constitution of Nepal enshrines inclusive principles.

In its Preamble it clearly mentions that in order to "build an egalitarian society" it has adopted "the proportional inclusive and participatory principles".

Although the 2015 Constitution was declared as egalitarian, the constitution drafting committee overlooked the representation of females in every sphere of Nepali life, from politics to governance, although females, as per the 2011 population census, comprise 52 per cent of the total population.

Willy-nilly, in political participation 33 per cent representation was made mandatory, and implementation of this requirement has made the politicians a very hard nut to crack.

Women are also represented in the government at the province level and in the local government, where either the mayor or deputy mayor of the municipalities must be a woman.

Nevertheless, women's representation in key political and bureaucratic positions remains exceptionally low in Nepal, and it has been argued that, while quotas can help, the tendency to avoid appointment of women to key positions remains.

Nepal is a society of over 125 caste/ethnic and religious groups. Broadly categorised, the major groups come to five, namely Khas/ Arya, indigenous, Madhesi (Tarai community), Dalit and Muslim. Of the total population of 2011, Khas/ Arya comprises 32 per cent (19% Chhetri and 13% Bahun), indigenous 36 per cent, Madheshi 14 per cent, Dalit 14 per cent and Muslim 4 per cent.

Analysis of the winning candidates in the election under the First-past-thepost (FPTP) shows politics in Nepal is heavily swayed by the Khas/Arya group.

For instance, of the total 165 FPTP HoR members, 95 members, or 58 per cent (Bahun 54 and Chhetri 41) are Khas/Arya, 44 members, or 27 per cent, Janajati, 25 members, or 15 per cent, Madheshi and one member Dalit. Of the elected female HoR members, the scenario is dismal as only nine women got elected.

Age-wise, 95 per cent of the 165 elected representatives are 40 years of age and over.

The 165 FPTP elected members and the nominated 110 members on the basis of proportional votes secured by different political parties have now entered the political power play for the next five years.

However, as no single party has acquired a majority, the parliament has become a hung one. This is unfortunate for the nation as it invites political instability.

In the power-sharing game, the members of the HoR are susceptible to horse-trading. In order to form the government, two or more parties have to enter into a coalition, and a member has to claim premiership before the President. This process intensifies the power-sharing game amongst the coalition partners. They are trying to forge an agreement for the key constitutional positions, such as the President, Vice-President, Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Chairman of the National Assembly, and the Chief Ministers of the seven provinces.

The 2015 Constitution of Nepal has also given guidelines in allocating key positions.

For instance, with respect to President and Vice-president, Clause 70 lays down that the "Election to the President and the Vice-president under this Constitution shall be so made as to have representation of different sex or community". Since Nepal became a Federal Republic, two Presidents have already been sworn in. The first Head of State of Federal Republic Nepal was Ram Baran Yadav from the Tarai community. The Nepali Congress party made a good start by choosing a person from the Tarai community.

The current President Bidya Devi Bhandari, despite being a female, was recommended by the UML, and she belongs to Khas/Arya group. The UML's step in this direction is praiseworthy as they dared to make positive discrimination for the upliftment of the female gender.

Time has come now to recommend a candidate for the next President, and it is hoped that whichever political party undertakes this task would also follow the guideline of the Constitution.

Apparently, this time the potential candidate for the Head of State should be a male from the non-Khas/Arya community.

It would be wise to pick someone who is senior, mature and knowledgeable of the politics in Nepal. If the inclusive constitutional principle is broken in the name of power sharing, increasingly more principles would be derailed, resulting in social and political unrest in the country.

The composition of the new parliament based on the FPTP elected members clearly shows it is in a dire position in terms of the inclusive principle of the Constitution. Thus, the political parties should allocate the top power-sharing positions in a way that will make them as inclusive as possible by following the guidelines enshrined in the Constitution. The under-representation of communities in the make-up of power-wielding politics would be too costly to ignore.

Despite the successful democratic exercise of electioneering with popular participation of the general masses, the results are not conducive to peace and stability, which are sine qua non for prosperity. Every political party in their election manifesto batted around stability and prosperity.

This will be a far cry for them as they will be engaged more in trying to hold on to power rather than thinking about planned development.

It is time for the politicians to review the implementation of the new constitution following the two rounds of general and local level elections that have taken place in Nepal since the promulgation of the Federal Constitution in 2015. There are issues of the virtually non-functioning provincial structure, too high government regular expenditure, about 60 per cent or more, resource constraints, inability of the economy to boost domestic production and increase exports, making it increasingly dependent on external sources, and, most importantly, the government machinery's inability to implement development projects on time.

A version of this article appears in the print on January 6, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.