In Nepal, election commission propose amendments to the election law

The Election Commission has proposed various amendments to the election laws as it decides to register the ‘Bill to Amend and Consolidate the Election Law’ at the Parliament through the Ministry of Home Affairs. As per the proposed amendment, the Election Commission has suggested that a person who has already been elected twice through the proportional representation (PR) system be barred from filing candidacy under the same electoral category. The existing election law does not have a limit for a candidate who wants to participate in the elections through the proportional representation system. Likewise, the commission has also proposed a provision that a candidate who has lost the elections (local, provincial or federal) shall not be allowed to file candidacy from another constituency in either of the elections for five years, except for the by-election of the respective constituency. Moreover, the commission has included another provision that gives the voters the right to reject candidates. For that purpose, the commission has proposed a provision that gives voters a right to reject any candidate and for that, a ‘NOTA’ sign should be included in the ballot paper. In the draft bill to amend the current election laws, the commission has proposed a provision that makes it mandatory for the political parties to field at least 33 percent women candidates under the first-past-the-post electoral system. The Commission has stated that the changes were proposed in the new integrated election law to replace seven different existing laws based on Nepal’s constitution, the directive order of the Supreme Court and past experiences.
Read the full article here: Kathmandu Post