Inclusion has been the hot cake of contemporary Nepali politics. The Maoists waged a decade-long civil war on the platform of greater inclusion of the marginalized and underrepresented sections of the society.
It became the main agenda of the last CA elections and is likely to be at the front and center of the next CA vote as well. We have come a long way since the abolishment of monarchy in 2008. Subsequently, the country went on to elect the most representative legislature in its history, with record numbers of dalits and janajatis and 33 percent women representatives, which made Nepal’s legislature the 14th most representative in the world.[break]
The agenda of inclusion was so well established among the political parties as well as the greater Nepali society that it seemed impossible for any political party to go back on it without losing face. But there are troubling signs that the major parties might be doing just that. The latest indication is their reluctance to nominate an adequate number of dalit and women candidates under FPTP component for the November vote.
On average, only 12 percent of total candidates of the three major parties—UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress and CPN-UML—are women. Dalits get only six percent nominations. While UCPN (Maoist) has picked nine dalit candidates (down from 17 in 2008), Nepali Congress is fielding not a single dalit candidate under the FPTP component. However, the number of janajati candidates (at 25 percent of all party tickets) is more or less the same as it was in 2008. In the last 601-member CA, there were 197 women members. Of this, 163 were nominated by parties under the PR system, 30 others were elected under FPTP system, and four were nominated by the government.
Thus, even in the last CA election, it was the PR component that ensured the representation of marginalized communities and women. The political parties might be looking to do the same again. But this is a wrong way to go about things, as it shows their lack of faith in the electability of people from the marginalized communities through direct vote.
Equally, the members of marginalized communities must also have the confidence to stand for election under direct seats, rather than looking to contest relatively safer PR seats.
The same goes for women. Some women activists have been complaining that the major parties have made a mockery of gender inclusiveness by fielding women candidates from unwinnable constituencies.
For instance, Nepali Congress has fielded a relatively unknown Pratima Gautam to go toe to toe with the highly experienced Madhav Kumar Nepal from CPN-UML in Kathmandu constituency number 2. Yet Nepal was defeated from the same constituency in the last CA election by a then equally unknown Maoist candidate in Jhakku Prasad Subedi. No one had given Subedi any chance. Ultimately, it is up to the people to decide.
There is no reason the likes of Gautam cannot prove their detractors wrong this time around as well. Yet it is true that every effort must be made to ensure that the new CA is as inclusive as its old avatar, if not more. The last CA vote was a good indication that people are in favor of a more inclusive society and are ready to elect any force that upholds this principle in letter and spirit.
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