Misuse of PR system

 The Himalayan Times

30 September 2022

Misuse of PR system

Nepal is holding the second general elections at the provincial and federal level on November 20 in a single phase in accordance with 2015 promulgated constitution to elect the 275 members of the House of Representatives (H0R). There will be two ballot papers in the election; one to elect 165 members from single-member constituencies via  first-past-the-post voting (FPTP), and the other to elect the remaining 110 members from a single nation-wide constituency via party-list proportional representation (PR).

The proportional representation system was meant to ensure the representation of the people from the marginalised and underrepresented communities in the state organs. As per the Election Commission, the closed list must have 28.7 per cent share of the indigenous and janajatis, 31.2 per cent Khas-Arya, 6.6 per cent Tharus, 13.8 per cent Dalits, 15.3 per cent Madhesis, 4.4 per cent Muslims, and 4.3 per cent from the remote areas. This provision, however, has been grossly misused by the major political parties, who continue to boast as the champion of “Loktantra”, right from the time of the first Constituent Assembly until now. In the last general election held in 2017, major political parties had chosen people from the business community under the Madhesi category while the wives or close relatives of senior leaders got elected under the women’s category. Earn Money Online

This misuse of PR system continues to take place in the upcoming provincial and federal elections also. For example: the ruling Nepali Congress has recommended its Central Working Committee member Arzu Rana Deuba, former Congress vice-president Bimalendra Nidhi and Gopal Man Shrestha, party’s former vice-chair among others. Likewise, the CPN-UML has included Nain Kala Thapa, wife of party vice-chair Ram Bahadur Thapa and CPN (MC) has recommended its vice-chair Krishna Bahadur Mahara among other leaders. All of them have already enjoyed state perks and benefits several times.

Rai Biren Bangdel

Maharajgunj