Though the major parties forwarded the issue to the Interim Election government, it will not be an easy task for the government to finalize the issues as the future of several political parties hinges on the threshold criteria. [break]
After holding consultations with several political parties, the Election Commission (EC) in the first week of April proposed eligibility threshold for seats under proportional representation, which was not practiced in the previous Constituent Assembly (CA) election. As per the new provision, a political party must secure at least one percent of the total valid votes cast across the country to secure seats to be allocated under the proportional representation (PR) electoral system.
The parties were sharply divided over the provision. The UCPN (Maoist), Madhes-based parties and some other fringe parties opposed the provision while the Nepali Congress (NC) and the CPN-UML supported it.
While some experts believe that the threshold provision would strengthen democratic system and its values, some others strongly differ.
Professor Krishna Khanal said the threshold provision is an internationally-accepted practice and that it helps strengthen democratic system and values“ "The proposal of one percent threshold is quite a liberal one. Generally, we find a majority of countries practicing a threshold of four to five percent for seats under proportional representation electoral syste”," Khanal told Republica.
He said the threshold provision makes political organizations more accountable to the people. He said he believes that the provision would discourage party splits and encourage unity between parties sharing common views. Khanal explained that such a provision would also help the growth of organizations that are endorsed by a certain number of people“ "This is why, some provisions are practiced internationally. For instance, if a candidate fails to get 10 percent of the votes in his/her constituency, the person loses his election deposi”," he explained. In parliamentary elections, parties receiving less than three percent of the total valid votes don´t get status of a national party.
However, lawyer-turned-politician Laxman Lal Karna of Sadbhavana Party is strongly against the proposal to introduce threshold provision. He said that introduction of threshold is against the principle of inclusion since it would deprive several marginalized communities from representation in the constitution writing process.“
"Since we didn´t practice threshold provision in the previous CA election, it isn´t wise to introduce it in the upcoming electi”n," Karna told Republic“. "We have to make amendments only to those provisions that require revision and are a must to conduct pol”s." He also claimed that the EC is not the right body to amend crucial laws.“
"It was an issue of serious differences among the major political parties even when we discussed it during CA committees in the pa”t," said former CA member Karn“. "How EC take up this matter when even the people´s representative body like the CA couldn´t resolve ”t."
But, constitutional lawyer Bhimarjun Acharya said adopting proportional representation electoral system without the threshold criteria would be ridiculous“
"Around 72 countries have introduced the threshold criteria and it is up to 10 perce”t," he said. He claimed that the parties are disputing over the matter with an ill-intent to defer the polls.
Acharya, while appreciating NC and UML for supporting the threshold provision, said the UCPN (Maoist) has been opposing the idea in a bid to command support of the fringe parties during and after the polls.
At the HLPC meeting on Sunday, UML leaders proposed that either a party should win a seat directly from any electoral constituency under the first-past-the-post electoral system or get at least 0.67 percent of the total valid votes cast nationwide to be eligible for seats under the proportional system. But the UCPN (Maoist) and the Madhes-based parties opposed it.
UML leaders said that they chose 0.67 percent as it is the minimum percentage being practiced by the Netherlands.
Political analyst Chandrakishor Jha said the idea of including more representatives from the marginalized and underprivileged communities is a good concep“. "But those who claimed to be the agents of change such as the Madhes-based parties, dalits and janajatis are divid”d," said Jh“. "And they fear to be thrown out of the race if the threshold criteria provision is implement”d."
During the 2008 CA election, altogether 25 political parties were represented in the CA but less than a dozen of them had secured one percent of total votes.
In 2008, four Madhes-based regional political parties -- MPRF, TMDP, Sadbhavana Party and Sadbhavana Party (Anandidevi) -- made it to the CA from the Tarai. But by now, they have split into over a dozen parties“
"NC and UML hold fringe parties responsible over promoting anomalies in the parliamentary practices during the 1990s and during the four-year CA term and want to introduce the threshold criteria purportedly to bring an end to such practic”s," he said, adding that UCPN (Maoist), who had earlier agreed on threshold criteria, backtrack“d "because the Maoist leaders don´t want to be projected as resistant to these communiti”s."
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