Kathmandu: Political instability, rising unemployment, widespread corruption, poor service delivery and a looming economic crisis may have dismayed many people in Nepal. However, there is something to cheer about as well – Nepal’s grassroots democracy has taken root.
On May 13, Nepal will hold its second elections for 753 local governments. The first election of local governments under the new constitution – which was promulgated in 2015 and adopted a three-tier system of government – was held in 2017. However, Nepal plunged into a deep political crisis after the dissolution of the House of Representatives in December 2020; much before the expiry of the term.
Due to the fragile political situation, there were fears of the derailment of local elections, posing a threat to the newly-established federal structure. Due to pressures from civil society and the media, however, major political parties, irrespective of their differences, agreed to hold elections for local governments on time.
Elections in six metropolitan cities, 11 sub-metropolitans, 276 municipalities and 460 rural municipalities will be held under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system.
The ruling alliance partners, the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) (Maoist Centre), led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and the CPN (Unified Socialist), chaired by Madhav Kumar Nepal, were not in favour of delaying the local elections due to their relatively weak organisational structures. Later, the Nepali Congress agreed to forge an electoral alliance, and those parties decided to hold elections on time as well.
The Election Commission also took a firm stance in favour of holding elections before the expiry of the terms of the incumbent leadership. The main opposition, CPN- Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML), also warned against attempts to delay the electoral process.
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Local governments in Nepal are empowered by both rights and resources. The constitution grants 22 exclusive political and administrative rights to local governments. Similarly, there is a long list of concurrent powers that the three-tiers of government can implement in coordination with each other. Holding the elections for local governments on time is, then, imperative to strengthen local democracy and governance.
Growing pains
Due to a lack of experience and knowledge, many local bodies failed to perform well in their first term. It was the first time in Nepal’s political history that a totally new setup was instituted from the grassroots level.
For the first time, local legislatures were allowed to draft the necessary laws for the provision of services. Additionally, the concept of federalism was, itself, new to Nepal and came into practical operation only after the 2017 elections. If elections are held on time, leaders will gradually overcome the challenge and learn how to make this system function effectively. It is widely expected that local government leaders will perform better than they did in their first terms.
Despite these shortfalls, the first elected local governments, under the new constitution, have performed relatively well in terms of providing services to the people over the last five years. People now can get all services at their doorsteps, unlike in the past, when they would need to visit the capital, Kathmandu.
Their work has laid a good foundation for the future and timely polls are needed to keep up the pace of the work. Holding elections on time means creating a robust institution at the local level.
Women in government
These local governments have also begun to bear fruit in that they are contributing to grooming female leaders at the local level. According to a study conducted by Asia Foundation, in the 2017 elections, 91% of second-ranking positions – such as those of deputy mayors in municipalities and vice-chairpersons in rural municipalities – were won by women. However, men won 98% of the top posts; of mayors and chairpersons.
Similarly, women were elected as members of ward committees, in line with the mandatory legal provisions. Additionally, scores of women from marginalised communities, mainly the Dalit community, came to power in the elections. As per the law, every ward committee should have at least one Dalit member.
This increased representation of women is likely to continue after the second elections, although there are concerns that the number of women could dwindle due to the electoral alliance among five parties.
As per election law, parties must field at least one female candidate if they are contesting both the top two posts of chief and deputy chief. However, this rule does not apply if the parties field a candidate for only one of the top seats. Even though they are in an alliance, political parties can show that they are contesting only one of the top seats and, therefore, take advantage of this loophole in the law.
However, most major political parties have picked female candidates in vital metropolitan cities.
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For instance, the Nepal Congress has nominated Srijana Singh as its mayoral candidate for Kathmandu Metropolitan City; the CPN (Maoist Centre) has nominated Renu Dahal as a mayoral candidate for the Bharatpur Municipality. Similarly, the main opposition, the CPN-UML, has nominated female candidates for the deputy mayor’s seat in Kathmandu as well as other places. All these exercises contribute to more and more female representation in Nepal politics.
As women already constitute 33% of the representatives in federal houses, the number of female representatives is increasing, even at the grassroot level.
Female leaders often face the criticism that they can only fight elections because of reservation. However, this is gradually changing as the number of women fighting elections directly against male candidates is increasing across the country. In the future, women will not have to rely on quotas to join politics and, as such, the representation of women at the local level is likely to create a new debate on the reservation policy.
The first five-year term has made women leaders confident that they can perform equally with men. Ahead of the candidate selection process, dozens of women who served as deputy mayors for the last five years openly claimed the top position, stating that they could now take on the leadership of local governments. Now, they can claim the tickets for provincial and federal parliamentary elections as well.
The increase in the number of female representatives has also helped minimise corruption and the provision of effective services to locals. Local governments led by women appear to be paying more attention to health, education, and women’s issues. After the 2017 elections, 18 of the 753 local governments were led by women and these local bodies saw fewer complaints of corruption and irregularities.
Since a large volume of funds has started trickling down to local government coffers, timely elections will facilitate development at the grassroots level. Some local governments provide quality health and education facilities at the local level. Similarly, infrastructure development has taken off. Senior citizens, orphans, and the poor and marginalised receive incentives from the local government. Moreover, the school enrolment rate has increased due to the measures taken at the local level.
The May 13 local election is, therefore, vital to strengthen inclusive and participatory local democracy.
Kamal Dev Bhattarai is a Kathmandu-based journalist and political commentator.