Preparations are underway to make comprehensive amendments to the law related to the political parties in order to curb the influence of fringe parties.
According to the proposed amendment draft, political parties must have a nationwide presence, with organizations in all 77 districts, seven provinces, and 753 local units to qualify for national party and refrain from forging an alliance.
A task-force formed by the Election Commission of Nepal (ECN) is preparing a draft to make an overhaul in the Political Parties Act, currently.
Ruling parties had agreed to abolish proportional representation system and make the House of Representatives and Province Assembly directed elected with a small number of representatives. However, to do all this, the Constitution needs to be amended.
Since this process grew more complex, the ruling parties decided to make amendments to the Political Parties Act, 2017. A preliminary draft has been prepared to this effect, a high level source at the Election Commission said.
The amendment proposal discourages parties to forge an alliance and prevent them from qualifying for a national party. As per the existing rules, a party should acquire at least 3 percent of votes to acquire a national party status. It, however, does not define the organizational structure.
Similarly, a party has to field candidates at least in 80 percent of seats in the elections to the House of Representatives as well as to the provincial and local bodies, according to the proposal.
After receiving the green signal from the CPN (UML) and Nepali Congress, preparations are underway to give a final touch to the draft, said the official at the Commission.
Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak was also briefed about it on August 6. Lekhak is positive about this draft, according to the official.
“It was discussed in the meeting with Home Minister Lekhak and the secretary. We have prepared a draft about the political parties. We will soon finalize it. We urged the minister to endorse it,” the official told Nepalkhabr, “Minister Lekhak said he is positive about the draft and told us to finalize it at the earliest. He said he would take it to the parliament for endorsement.”
Prime Minister KP Oli and other NC leaders are also positive about this amendment proposal, a UML leader has said.
Categorizing political parties
The political parties will be classified as national, regional and provincial, according to the amendment proposal.
“To be a national party, the party should have organizations all over the country. This will discourage the parties to forge electoral alliance,” said a Commissioner.
In the incumbent parliament (2079), seven parties have got the recognition of a national party. These parities have influence in the provinces, as well.
No parties have a majority in the House of Representatives. Hence, fringe parties are decisive in forming the government and often do claim for a big pie when it comes to power sharing.
That is why big parties -- Nepali Congress and UML -- are advocating for a 10 percent threshold to close the door for small parties to the HoR and the Province Assembly.
However, small parties are not happy with the idea of abolishing proportional representation system and raising the ceiling of the electoral threshold.
That is why the draft is being prepared to rein in the fringe parties by making amendments in the law related to the political parties. If the political parties endorse this amendment draft, the number of national parties will come down.
Threshold being raised
A party has to obtain at least 3 percent of votes to get recognition of a national party in the center and 1.5 percent in the province, according to the existing law. Now the parties have to receive at least 3 percent of votes in the province and 5 percent in the center to become the national party,” said the official.
In the general elections held in 2022, the parties which did not field their candidacies even in 20 constituencies crossed the electoral threshold to become national parties.
Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP), Janamat Party, Nagarik Unmukti Party had fielded candidates in a few constituencies in the country. RSP did not field candidates in the province.
The other topic being amended is the organizational structure across the country, which is being made mandatory.
“Currently, there are 35,000 posts of people’s representatives in the local governments. The parties have to file candidacies for at least 50 percent of posts. When this provision is made mandatory, the number of political parties will go down,” the official said citing the suggestions received.
A total of 119 parties have been registered in Office of the Election Commission, currently.
Of them, it was found that 32 parties do not have offices nor do they have their leaders, the officials have said.
That's why the EC has prepared a draft with stringent provisions in the law related to political parties.
