KATHMANDU, Dec 28 : Nepali Congress (NC) has decided not to include leaders who have already served as lawmakers under the Proportional Representation (PR) system from the 2022 election, in the closed list for the upcoming March 5 election.
A meeting of the party’s Central Working Committee on Sunday agreed that individuals who entered parliament through the PR system in all previous elections since its introduction will not be nominated this time. While the decision is yet to be formally finalized, party leaders say it will be endorsed in the final list.
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Nepal adopted a mixed electoral system after the 2008 Constituent Assembly election, introducing the PR electoral system alongside the First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) system. The PR mechanism was also used in the 2013 Constituent Assembly election and the parliamentary elections of 2017 and 2022.
The PR system has also faced criticism for allowing the same individuals to repeatedly benefit under the pretext of social inclusion, limiting opportunities for new and genuinely marginalized candidates. Party leaders said the latest decision aims to address those concerns.
Previously, the NC had discouraged consecutive PR nominations for the same individuals. This time, however, the party has moved a step further by deciding to exclude anyone who has already been elected through the PR system in any past election.
