Independent vs party candidates

The Himalayan Times

3 November 20222

Independent vs party candidates

Nepal held its first three tiers of elections, namely, local, provincial and federal, in 2017 in accordance with the new constitution promulgated in 2015. Now, the second rounds of federal and provincial elections are scheduled to be held in November 20 to elect the 275 members of the House of Representatives. There will be two ballots in the election; one to elect 165 members from single-member constituencies via FPTP, and the other to elect the remaining 110 members from a single nation-wide constituency via party-list proportional representation.

The unprecedented success of independent candidates over the veteran politicians in some rural and urban areas was shocking and a huge blow to the major political parties. In fact, the victory of 385 independent candidates over veteran politicians in the local level elections was an unusually exceptional event for Nepal, where the political parties have a long history of maintaining dominance over powerful political positions. In fact, the local level results showed to some extent that the voters’ attitudes were gradually shifting from traditional political forces towards alternative forces.

Considering the increasing number of independent candidates vying for the upcoming federal and provincial elections, the political parties’ candidates seem to be having tough time convincing their voters to vote for them. The major political parties have failed to effectively run the governments at all the three levels and fulfil their political promises to their voters during the last three decades and especially in the last five years of the federal structure. Issues of paramount importance such as effective implementation of development projects, good governance, improving public service delivery and curbing corruption at all the levels were not properly addressed and implemented. The chances of independent candidates winning more seats in the upcoming provincial and federal elections are high-an indication of the major political parties losing their political identities among the general public.

Rai Biren Bangdel

Maharajgunj