Legislative Branch Reform – 2008
2008
The Constituent Assembly (CA) elections took place on 10 April 2008. The mixed electoral system elected 240 members on a first-past-the-post basis, and 335 members on the basis of a proportional representation system. The remaining 26 members were nominated by each political party present in the CA.1 The Maoists won 120 seats in the first-past-the-post portion of the elections, and 100 seats in the proportional representation portion. The NC won 37 seats in the first-past-the-post elections and 73 proportional representation seats. The Communist Party of Nepal- United Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML) won 33 first-past-the-post seats and 70 proportional representation seats. MPRF obtained 30 first-past-the-post seats and 22 proportional representation seats, while the other two UDMF parties between them won 13 first-past-the-post seats and 16 proportional representation seats.2 After the elections for the Constituent Assembly were held, the interim parliament was dissolved. The CA was convened on 28 May 2008. The CA is highly representative in terms of the number of seats held by women, minorities and Dalits.
The composition of the CA and the use of the PR system in the CA elections both suggest that a greater reform in the legislative branch of the government has transpired. Furthermore, ethnic minorities and linguistic groups were now able to use their own language in the CA. Nevertheless, a final modality of the composition of the legislative branch of the government was yet to be finalized in the constitution.