On the 9th of March 2024, starting 10 am local time, Nepalese lawmakers began the process of voting to elect a new President. Currently, Ram Chandra Poudel from the Nepali Congress and Subash Chandra Nembang of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) are competing for the top post of President.
It’s hoped that the newly elected President would help stabilize the current government which is being headed by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda”.
The voting is taking place at the New Baneshwar-based parliament building in Kathmandu.
Bidya Devi Bhandari is the current President of Nepal and her tenure will end on 12th March 2024. She is the second president of Nepal and is also the first woman to hold office in the country. Finally, she held the portfolios of the Minister of Defence and Minister of Environment and Population.
The current competitors for the title of the third President of Nepal; Ram Chandra Poudel 78, and Subash Chandra Nembang 69, have previously held the portfolios of Deputy Prime Minister and speaker of the house of Representatives of Nepal and former chairman of the constituent assembly of Nepal respectively.
The process of counting votes by Nepal’s election commission will commence at 4 pm local time. Declaration of the results is expected by 7 pm local time.
One of the two candidates of the presidential election, Mr. Ram Chandra Poudel is being backed by the eight-party alliance led by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal”Prachanda ”. It was due to this support and backing by Prime Minister Prachanda last month, that led to a rift in the parliament ultimately stirring up political turmoil in the nation once again. n. Following Prime Minister Prachanda’s backing of Mr. Ram Chandra Poudel, former Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli led CPN-UML, withdrew its support to Prime Minister Prachanda.
The communist party of Nepal (unified marxist Leninist) is the second-largest political party in Nepal. The party currently holds seventy-eight seats in the house of representatives.
Since Mr. Ram Chandra Poudel is being backed by the support of eight political parties, it is almost certain that he shall emerge as the victor of Nepal’s 2024 Presidential Election.
The 2024 Presidential election of Nepal is the fourth presidential election since its abolition of the monarchy to elect Nepal’s third president.
Presently, the election of the president of Nepal is held based on the system of weighted voting. The president is elected by the majority of votes by all members of the electoral college. Out of a total of eight hundred and eighty-two voters, three hundred thirty-two are members of the Nepalese parliament and five hundred fifty are members of the provincial assemblies of the seven provinces overall.
In terms of weightage being given to each vote, the vote weightage of a federal member of parliament is seventy-nine whereas the vote weightage of a provincial assembly member is forty-eight. In total there will be a weightage of 52,768 votes assuming that no seat is left vacant in the parliament.
As per the constitution of Nepal, each president will have a term of office of five years beginning from the date of the election. An individual can only be elected as president for two terms twice.
This election, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) known as the pro-monarchy party, has decided to abstain from voting and stay neutral on the matter.
