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Politics

Allocation of 100 powerful posts holds key to govt formation

Sagar Neupane

Sagar Neupane

 |  Kathmandu

Nepal's Constitution of 2015 has established three tiers of government in Nepal namely local level, provincial and federal.

All three governments have completed their first five-year tenure since the promulgation of the constitution on September 20, 2015.

The local level election for the second term was held on May 13 earlier this year and elected people's representatives are already executing duties at the local level.

The federal and provincial elections concluded on November 20 last month. Seven political parties emerged as national parties fromt the parliamentary elections.

Currently, these seven parties are carrying out internal homework to form the government at the center and the seven provinces.

The largest party in the House of Representatives (HoR) Nepali Congress (NC) and the second largest party CPN (UML) are trying to form the government by sharing 35 powerful positions (seven at center and 28 at provinces) among each other.

Anyone able to arrange the allocation of these 35 positions at the center and provinces is likely to form the government.

Meanwhile, the ruling alliance and other parties, including the UML, also seem involved in basic calculation for government formation.

Seven powerful posts at center

Let us first discuss the seven powerful positions at the center in the midst of homework for government formation.

Constitutionally, Nepal has only one President. Similarly, six other positions considered powerful at the center include Vice President, Prime Minister, House of Representatives (HoR) Speaker, HoR Deputy Speaker, Chairperson and Vice Chairperson of the National Assembly (NA).

Apart from these, a 24-member Council of Ministers, including three Minister of State, can be formed at the center.

Combining all these (seven and 24), there are altogether 31 powerful posts at the center.

Parties have been working to form a government by sharing these 31 positions at center among themselves.

Turning towards provincial posts

Province 1, Madhesh, Bagmati, Gandaki, Lumbini, Karnali and Sudurpaschim are the seven provinces in Nepal. Each province will have its own government and the process of forming provincial government is the same as at the center.

Just as there is a president at the center, each of the seven provinces has a provincial head i.e. Governor. However, governors remain as representatives of the Government of Nepal and are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the federal Council of Ministers.

Likewise, each province has its legislative parliament, which is also known as Province Assembly (PA).

PA Members or provincial lawmakers are elected through a combined electoral system, comprising first-past-the-post and proportional representation systems.

Elected PA Members elect Speaker and Deputy Speaker at the Province Assembly. In this way, there will be a total of 14 speakers and deputy speakers at seven provinces.

Likewise, each of the seven provinces has Chief Minister bearing executive power for the province.

According to the constitution, the Province Chief or the Governor will appoint the leader of the parliamentary party commanding majority in Province Assembly as the Chief Minister. The provincial Council of Ministers will be formed under the leadership of the Chief Minister.

There will be Ministers under the Chief Minister in each province and the size of the provincial cabinet varies from province to province.

According to Article 168 (9) of the constitution, "the Provincial Head shall, on the recommendation of the Chief Minister, constitute from among the members of the Provincial Assembly the Provincial Council of Ministers on the basis of the principles of Inclusion and not exceeding more than twenty percent of the total number of members of the Provincial Assembly, including the Chief Minister."

Accordingly, in Province 1, 56 PA members and 37 PA members were elected through FPTP system and proportional representation (PR) systems respectively. The total number of lawmakers in Province 1 is thus 93. Constitutionally, a maximum 20-member cabinet can be formed in Province 1.

Madhes Province has a total of 107 provincial lawmakers, of which 64 were elected via FPTP category.

Bagmati Province has altogether 110 provincial lawmakers (66 elected directly via FPTP). Thus, there can be a maximum 22-member cabinet in Bagmati Province.

Gandaki has altogether 60 lawmakers (36 elected directly via FPTP and 24 via PR category). Thus, there can be up to 12 Ministers.

In Lumbini Province, there are total 87 provincial lawmakers (52 elected via FPTP), and up to 17-member cabinet can be formed there.

Karnali Province has altogether 40 provincial lawmakers and an 8-member cabinet is viable there.

Similarly, there are altogether 57 lawmakers (32 elected via FPTP) in Sudurpaschim Province and a 10-member cabinet is possible.

Positions in constitutional organs

Apart from this, the parties can also develop understanding the sharing the posts of chiefs and members of constitutional organs such as the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority, Office of the Auditor General, the Public Service Commission, the Election Commission, and the National Human Rights Commission, among others.

The tenure of all these posts is five years. Parties are interested in these posts as all these posts are of stable and long-term nature.

Again, the parties can develop consensus and achieve majority in other constitutional bodies as well.

With the announcement of election results, the attention of NC and UML leaders engaged in homework for new government formation is on these powerful positions.

The parties are working on sharing these powerful posts and attaining majority to lead the government.

The NC, the Maoist Center and the Unified Socialist are firstly planning to strike a package deal for sharing these 100 positions and then begin the process of government formation.

Similarly, the interest of the UML is also on these positions. The UML analyzed that the parties in the parliament can easily garner support to form the government if there is agreement on allocation of these powerful posts. The UML is for distribution of major power positions for balance of power.



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