The current political stalemate has ended after President Bidhya Devi Bhandari issued the ordinance on election of National Assembly
Friday paving the way for election of the National Assembly and formation of a new government.
But the government will not be formed immediately as a few political processes, that will take a few weeks, will have to be completed before that.
The first stage is election of the National Assembly.
The Election Commission (EC)
on Thursday issued a notice inviting all the political parties for registration for the National Assembly giving a deadline of two weeks meaning that the election will not be held before the two-week deadline expires.
The government will have to do some works in the intervening two weeks. It will announce the date for election of National Assembly in consultation with the EC.
A total of 1,506 chiefs and deputy chiefs of 753 local bodies, and 550 provincial assembly members from seven provinces will be voters for the National Assembly election.
The EC has told the government it will need 30 days to hold election for National Assembly after announcement of the date of election.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Ayodhi Prasad Yadav told Setopati that it will take 30 days after announcement of the election date to complete the election process from filing of nominations to voting. "We have told the government that it will be easier if the date were announced early. We have said we will hold election in 30 days," Yadav added.
Members for provincial assembly have already been elected through the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system and the EC has given the deadline of Friday evening to the parties to submit their lists for proportional representation (PR) system. The EC will give another three days to the parties to correct the lists if necessary.
The EC will announce the final results of provincial assembly elections the next week. It will have to send that final results to the respective provincial chiefs as per the Constitution.
Provincial chiefs will be the President's representative in each province. The EC will have to send the final results of provincial assembly elections to the respective provincial chiefs as it sends that of federal parliament to the President.
The government has yet to appoint provincial chiefs. The first Cabinet meeting to be convened the next week will probably appoint provincial chiefs, provincial chief secretaries, secretaries of the office of the provincial chiefs and announce the date for election of National Assembly.
Provincial assembly members can get to take part in the election for National Assembly only after they are administered the oath of office.
The EC will determine how many women each party will have to send to HoR through PR system to ensure one-third of its members in the federal parliament are women after completion of the National Assembly election. The EC will also determine the number of members from Khas/Aryas, Madhesis, indigenous ethnicities, Dalits, Muslims and other clusters after the National Assembly election. The EC then will write to the national parties to send their PR lists for HoR specifying the necessary number of women and other clusters giving a seven-day deadline.
It will again give three days to the parties to correct those lists if necessary. The EC will then publish the final results of federal parliament (HoR and National Assembly) in Nepal Gazette.The Constitution requires the EC to send the final results to the President's Office
within seven days of publishing it.
The EC will probably send the final results to the President's Office on the very day it is published in the Nepal Gazette considering the time constraint.
The President will then start the process of forming the next government. The current government will have no role in the formation of the new government.
Article 76(1) of the Constitution states 'The President shall appoint the leader of a parliamentary party that commands majority in the House of Representatives as the Prime Minister, and the Council of Ministers shall be constituted under his or her chairpersonship.'
But no single party has majority in the current HoR.
Article 76(2), therefore, will be attracted for formation of the next government. It states 'In cases where no party has a clear majority in the House of Representatives under clause (1), the President shall appoint as the Prime Minister a member of the House of Representatives who can command majority with the support of two or more parties representing to the House of Representatives.'
A coalition of two or more parties that can muster majority in the HoR will write to the President's Office stating they can form a government under leadership of any HoR member after the President invites parties to form the new government as per Article 76(2). The President will appoint new prime minister (PM) as per that letter.
If no coalition makes claim to form a majority government within the deadline given by the President as per Article 76(2), the President will appoint parliamentary party leader of the largest party in the HoR as PM as per Article 76(3).
There is practice of the newly appointed PM taking oath of office amidst a program held at the President's Office. The acting PM is also present in that program sitting on the chair beside the President. After the swearing-in ceremony, the acting PM leaves that chair to make way for the new PM to sit. This changing of chairs symbolically represents the change of governments.
The newly appointed PM then goes to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers to assume office.
Appointment of new PM, in this way, will take at least six weeks. It will take at least a month for formation of the next government adding 30 days needed to hold National Assembly election after the announcement of election date, and a deadline of 7-10 days given to the parties to send the PR lists for HoR.
There is still confusion about appointment of the new PM though.
There are differing views on whether the joint meeting of federal parliament will have to be convened before appointment of new PM.
The Constitution has a provision requiring convening of the joint meeting of federal parliament within 30 days of announcement of election results.
Many argue that any person elected to the HoR will not become HoR member until taking oath of office, and the person cannot become PM before becoming a HoR member.
But others argue that the joint meeting of the federal parliament need not be convened as the National Assembly does not have any role in formation of the new government.
