2013 Nepalese Constituent Assembly Election Tuesday Nov 19,2013

A Constituent Assembly election is going to be held in Nepal on November 19,2013

 

The vote has been repeatedly delayed. It was previously planned to be held on November 22,2012, following the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly on May 27,2012, but it was put off by the election commission
 
The vote was eventually set for November 19, 2013.

Nepalese Constituent Assembly

• The Nepalese Constituent Assembly was a Unicameral body of 601 members formed as a result of the Constituent Assembly Election  that was held on April 10, 2008 in Nepal 

•  The Constituent Assembly was tasked with writing a New Constitution and it would act as the interim legislature for a term of two years

•  240 members were elected in single seat constituencies, 335 were elected through proportional representation, and the remaining 26 seats were reserved for nominated members

• The Communist Party of Nepal(Maoist) (CPN (M)) was the largest party in the Constituent Assembly, having won half of the constituency seats and about 30% of proportional representation seats

• The Constituent Assembly declared a republic at its first meeting on May 28, 2008, abolishing the Monarchy and Nepal became a republic ending 240 years of monarchy.

 

• In late June 2008, the parties agreed to divide the 26 nominated seats in the Constituent Assembly between nine parties

• Due to its failure in drafting a new constitution, the Constituent Assembly was dissolved on May 28, 2012 after its original and extended total tenure of 4 years

• The Next Nepalese Constituent Assembly Elections were to be held on November 22,2012,but were postponed several times,, but it was put off by the election commission 

• The vote was eventually set for November 19, 2013.

2013 Nepalese Constituent Assembly Election Polling Tuesday Nov 19,2013

Nepal will choose a 601-member Assembly to draft a new Constitution, including 240 elected under a direct voting system. There will be proportionate voting for 335 seats and the remaining 26 members will be nominated by the government

About 12,147,865 voters will vote in 18,457 polling centres in 240 constituencies.
 
More than 16,000 candidates belonging to more than 100 parties are standing, nearly 6,000 of them women.
Hundreds of foreign observers will be monitoring the polls.

The Polling  started from 7 a.m. in the morning in majority parts of the country

UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal  is contesting form Kathmandu-10 and Siraha-5

Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala is contesting from Banke-3 and Chitwan-4

CPN-UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal is contesting from two constituencies—Sarlahi-1 and Ilam-1

More than 70 % of the 12 million eligible voters cast their votes during Tuesday’s election

Officials called the election successful and mostly free of violence

The United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the party of the former communist rebels, is hoping to repeat the last election result and emerge as the largest party. Its main competitors are the Nepali Congress and Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist)

Officials began counting votes on Wednesday Nov 20,2013

Election Commission official Bir Bahadur Rai said the counting started in several districts and that boxes filled with ballot papers had reached counting centres in at least 20 districts.

The official results to the polls will lead to the formation of a 601-member Constituent Assembly, including 240 elected through direct voting. Proportionate voting will elect 335 members and the remaining 26 will be nominated by the government.
At least 301 seats are needed to form a majority government.


Nepali Congress Emerge as Leading Party

The Nepali Congress on Sunday Nov 24,2013 emerged as the leading party in polls to elect an Assembly that will draft Nepal’s new Constitution, securing a 14-seat lead over the Communist Party of Nepal-(Unified Marxist Leninist), while Prachanda-led Maoists were a distant third. 

With results of 239 out of 240 seats under the direct voting system announced -

• Nepali Congress led by Sushil Koirala bagged 105 seats
• CPN-UML, headed by Jhalanath Khanal, won 91 seats.
• Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-Maoist) came third bagging 25 seats and 
• the remaining 18 seats went to Madhesi and fringe parties

As the counting of votes under the proportionate voting system concluded -
 Nepali Congress secured 24,21,252 votes out of a total of 93,77,519 valid votes.
CPN-UML was in second place with 22,43,447 votes
 The Prachanda-led UCPN-Maoist, the largest party in 2008 polls, was routed and in third place with 14,38,666 votes