Electoral Education for Youth

The second Constituent Assembly (CA) elections to be held on November 19 have become the talk of the country. While political parties and candidates contesting in the elections have been campaigning in full swing, Nepalis all over the country, and even abroad, are talking about it everywhere – from social gatherings to family get-togethers to social media – discussing and speculating what the elections will bring forth.

Nepali youths, thousands of whom will be exercising their rights to vote for the very first time in the upcoming elections, aren’t unaffected from the election mood. In this context, it is absolutely essential for them to have some key understanding of the various aspects of the CA elections so that they can make an informed choice before casting their ballots.


Kanchan Prasad Kharel and Pratyush Nath Upreti, National Trainers on Electoral Education, write about the aspects of the upcoming elections and the processes involved in the same. 

What is Constitution?
The Constitution is the main law of the land. It gives the basis for a state to govern itself. In democracy, Constitution is considered the ‘supreme’ law of the state as it promotes ‘rule of law’ and reserve power in the hands of people. In other words, Constitution is the collection of every law of the land which directs the state and its machineries to function for the welfare of the people.

There are different types of Constitution in countries across the world based upon the state’s functionalities and power relations. Some of the forms are written or unwritten; unitary or federalist; monarchic or republican; parliamentarian or presidential; stringent or liberal. The Constitution of Nepal is going to be a ‘written,’ ‘federalist’ and ‘republican’ in nature.
The Constitution and the CA have an entrenched relationship. More than 30 countries in the world are believed to have practiced the CA to prepare their Constitutions. Some of them are India, the United States, Italy, and France. However, there is no universal compulsion to draft a Constitution through the Constituent Assembly. There are many countries which have practiced other methods. Even the Constitution of Nepal, 2047 (1991) was drafted upon the recommendations of a team of constitutional experts.


Sample Blue ballot paper from Kathmandu, area 1.

Why Constitution through CA?
Thomas Paine, the America political theorist, said, “The Constitution of a Country is not the act of its Government, but of the People constituting a Government.”
The Constituent Assembly method was adopted in 2008 in Nepal for the very first time to incorporate the voices of the marginalized, oppressed, politically and economically excluded members of the society toward nation building. Earlier practices of Nepal’s Constitution drafting process could not address the aspirations, needs, desires and voices of a large section of the society and benefited only a small community. Therefore, the CA approach is being exercised in Nepal based upon the principle of inclusion.

Structure of the Constituent Assembly
The Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2063, gives power to the people to write their own Constitution through the Constituent Assembly. In the CA of Nepal in 2008, 601 representatives came together. Even in the upcoming November 19 elections, the Assembly is going to have the same number of seats.
Nepal adopts the Mixed Electoral Method to bring the 601 representatives in the Assembly. Out of which, 240 candidates come through the First Past the Post (FPTP), 335 through Proportionate Representation (PR), and 26 through Nomination.

Mixed Electoral Method
The system which includes both FPTP and PR is called mixed electoral method. In the upcoming elections, we will witness two sets of ballot papers, one in blue color and the other in red color. The blue ballot paper denotes the voting system under FPTP while the red denotes PR. That means you have to cast two votes – one in red and another in blue. This method has emerged since 1990 and is now popular in more than 20 countries in the world, some of which are South Korea, Russia, Cameroon, Nigeria, and it has been introduced in Nepal since 2008.

First Past The Post (FPTP)
This is the most popular form in the world. Around five in every 10 countries use FPTP in their election process. In this method, the candidate who wins the election among many others becomes the representative.
In the context of Nepal, there are 240 electoral constituencies. In each constituency, many people contest their candidacy in the elections, be it from a party or non-party (independent). While counting votes, the one who brings maximum votes wins over the rest. That means there will be 240 representatives from the 240 respective constituencies. Therefore, on November 19, you can choose your candidate and cast your vote in the blue ballot paper. Also, since different constituencies have different candidates, the blue ballot paper varies from one constituency to the next.
This method is very unique for mainly two reasons: first, people can directly vote their representatives; second, anyone can contest their candidacy in election, be it through an affiliation with a political party or independently. This system is mainly adopted by those countries which are influenced by the British governance system. Some of them are India, Canada, Bangladesh, Australia, and Nepal.

Proportionate Representation (PR)
One of the weaknesses of FPTP is that the winners get inside but losers remain outside. In other words, the winners’ agendas for the Constitution get platform but the losers’ agendas are structurally sidelines. Thus, the need for PR system comes at this point in order to give platform for outside voices. This system is based on the principle of inclusion. It is mostly practiced in countries like Austria, Italy, Denmark, Germany, Netherland, Sri Lanka and Switzerland, among others. 
In Nepal, there are many minorities, marginalized, oppressed, politically, socially and economically excluded groups which have long been kept out of the mainstream politics and development. Although election gives access to raise political voice in democracy, these communities, in many cases, have very less chances to win the election under the FPTP system mainly because their community votes cannot withstand the votes of large communities.
But through the PR system, such communities can participate in the drafting process of the new Constitution. When we go to vote, we will witness the red ballot paper through which we vote for our desired party. Under this system, parties are given responsibility to submit the closed list of PR candidates to the Election Commission before elections. While doing so, political parties should make sure that the list is inclusive in terms of women, marginalized, ethnic groups and other excluded ones. 335 members can participate in the Constituent Assembly through PR system.

Hypothetically, say the total vote collected through the red ballot paper is 100,000 and there are three parties contesting – A, B and C – which receive 40,000, 50,000 and 10,000 votes respectively. Then, A gets 134, B gets 168 and C gets 33 seats – the result of which is found using the formula: (PR votes received by any party multiplied by 335 seats and the figure out of this is divided by the total votes cast for PR). However, the Election Commission uses the Saint Lauge method as the official method for the PR calculation. All in all, the PR method gives access to many small parties and communities to voice their agendas and issues.

Way ahead
We are confident that more youths will participate in the upcoming CA elections which will help the country move forward. In the last five years, although we have seen different phases of politics with a mixture of both good and unpleasant memories, the learning has made us more committed to promoting the values of democracy. Casting our votes is important, certainly, but even more important is making an informed choice.

Published on Republica, November 13, 2013