KATHMANDU, March 12: With vote counting under the proportional representation (PR) system of the House of Representatives (HoR) election completed, 51 political parties have failed to cross the threshold required for parliamentary representation.
In the election held on March 5, a total of 57 parties contested under the PR system, including several that shared common election symbols. However, only six parties secured seats in parliament, while the remaining 51 parties failed to meet the minimum vote requirement.
According to the Election Commission (EC), only parties that secure at least three percent of the total valid PR votes qualify for seat allocation.
Under the PR system, the entire country is treated as a single constituency, where voters cast ballots for political parties rather than individual candidates. Seats in the HoR are allocated to parties in proportion to the votes they receive, according to EC Assistant Spokesperson Kul Bahadur GC.
Among the 10,739,115 valid PR votes, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) secured the highest number with 5,139,235 votes.
The Nepali Congress (NC) received 1,749,583 votes, while the CPN-UML secured 1,404,854 votes. Similarly, the Nepali Communist Party (NCP) obtained 805,773 votes, the Shram Sanskriti Party received 378,649 votes, and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) secured 329,472 votes.
Apart from these six parties, no other party crossed the three percent threshold.
Among those that failed to meet the requirement were the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) Nepal, which received 174,317 votes, the Rastriya Pariwartan Party with 171,501 votes, and the Janamat Party, which secured around 79,000 votes.
Several parties contested under shared election symbols. Parties using the symbol ‘Chakiya’ (millstone)—including Rastriya Mukti Party Nepal, Janata Samajbadi Party, and Nagarik Unmukti Party—received 61,677 votes in total.
Threshold forcing fringe parties to go for mergers, alliances
Similarly, parties contesting under the symbol ‘Bus’, including Nepal Federal Socialist Party, Bahujan Ekta Party Nepal and Nepal Janata Sanrakshan Party, secured 28,178 votes. Parties using the symbol ‘Mobile’, including the Aam Janata Party and Janadesh Party Nepal, received 13,445 votes.
Other parties that failed to cross the threshold include the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (42,246 votes), Rashtra Nirman Dal Nepal (38,933), Rastriya Janamorcha (29,442), Progressive Democratic Party (24,617), Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) (23,851) and the Mongol National Organization (20,806).
A large number of smaller parties received fewer than 10,000 votes, including Rastriya Mukti Andolan Nepal, Swabhiman Party, Rastriya Janamukti Party, Nepal Janata Party and Rastriya Ekta Dal.
According to the EC, several other parties—including People First Party, Nepali Congress (BP), Nagarik Shakti Nepal, Nepal Janashramdan Sanskriti Party, Nepali Janata Dal, Samabeshi Socialist Party and Janata Democratic Party Nepal—received fewer than 2,000 votes.
The EC also said that under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system, candidates who receive less than 10 percent of the total valid votes in a constituency lose their deposit, except those who are elected.
Similarly, under the PR system, political parties that fail to secure at least one seat also lose their deposit, according to Assistant Spokesperson GC.
Under the Political Parties Act, 2017, a party must secure at least three percent of PR votes and one FPTP seat in the HoR election to be recognized as a national party.
Here’s the new arithmetic of Parliament
The proportional representation vote count of the House of Representatives election held on March 5 has been completed.
According to the final nationwide tally, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) received the highest number of votes, emerging as the largest party in parliament.
Out of 10,785,876 valid votes, the RSP secured 5,157,130 votes, accounting for around 47.9 percent of the total.
The Nepali Congress (NC), which won 18 seats under the first-past-the-post system, received 1,755,872 votes (16.3 percent) in PR. The CPN-UML, with nine direct seats, secured 1,452,758 votes (13.5 percent).
Similarly, the Nepali Communist Party (NCP), which won eight direct seats, received 809,577 votes (7.5 percent).
The Shram Sanskriti Party, led by the former Dharan mayor Harka Sampang, emerged as a new force by securing 385,741 PR votes (3.6 percent) and winning three direct seats.
The Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), which campaigns for the monarchy and Hindu state agenda, won one direct seat and secured 330,268 PR votes (3 percent).
Under the House of Representatives Election Act, parties must obtain at least three percent of total PR votes to qualify for proportional seats. In this election, only six parties—RSP, NC, UML, NCP, Shram Sanskriti Party and RPP—crossed the threshold.
Party-wise seats in the new House of Representatives
• RSP – 182 seats (Direct 125, Proportional 57)
• Nepali Congress – 38 seats (Direct 18, Proportional 20)
• CPN-UML – 25 seats (Direct 9, Proportional 16)
• NCP – 17 seats (Direct 8, Proportional 9)
• Shram Sanskriti Party – 7 seats (Direct 3, Proportional 4)
• Rastriya Prajatantra Party – 5 seats (Direct 1, Proportional 4)
