Voter Rights Forum Urges New Government to Implement Inclusive and Proportional Representation in Practice

Kathmandu. The Nepal Voter Rights Forum has suggested that the government to be formed should take initiatives to practically implement the aspects of inclusivity and proportional representation as stipulated in the constitution.

The Forum urged the government to consider the fact that the results obtained from the House of Representatives election failed to practically embrace the diversity and inclusive principles of Nepali society, and to take future steps accordingly.

At a program organized by the Nepal Voter Rights Forum, it was mentioned that there was a mismatch between the manifestos of the 13 political parties that participated in the election and the election results. Bhakta Bishwakarma, Chairman of the Forum, complained that because many political parties gave low candidacy from women, Janajati, and Dalit communities according to the diversity of society in the first-past-the-post electoral system, the results obtained were not in line with the population.

Activist Manish Gautam stated that upon studying the election manifestos of the 13 parties, an inclusive character was only seen in a few new parties. He said, "Since there was a male dominance even in the working group formed by political parties to create the election commitment paper, the result could not become inclusive from an ethnic perspective. Since the manifesto does not arrive on time, or is brought late, there is a need to study and monitor how much of the content mentioned therein has been implemented or not."

Another activist, Kopila Dangol, commented that although a large number of youth representatives entered the House of Representatives from the recently concluded election, the aspect of diversity and transformation that Nepali society wishes to see remains weak.