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NepalThe 1991 Elections
For many Nepalese, participation in the democratic
process
meant either walking for hours along mountain paths or
riding a yak
to cast a ballot. Since most voters were illiterate, they
had to
choose a candidate according to the party's symbol as
authorized by
the election commission; for example, a tree signified the
Nepali
Congress Party and a sun represented the Communist Party
of Nepal
(United Marxist-Leninist).
Although forty-four parties were recognized by the
Election
Commission, only twenty parties actually contested the
elections.
The twenty parties ranged across the political spectrum
from
radical right to loyalist leftist and all except a
leftwing radical
faction, Masal (Torch), eagerly participated in the
elections.
Twelve parties did not win a single seat and obtained a
total of
only about 82,500 votes, slightly more than 1 percent of
the total
valid votes. Many voters seemed to have fallen back on
their ageold identification with caste or ethnic community. Younger
voters
favored the progressive leftist parties, as did voters in
the urban
areas.
The Nepali Congress Party won the first multiparty
election in
thirty-two years, taking 110 seats in the 205-member House
of
Representatives. The results of the elections, however,
demonstrated that a coalition of various communist parties
was a
major political force in Nepalese politics, defying the
international trend of dismantling communist parties and
regimes.
The Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist), a
constituent of the United Left Front, won sixty-nine
seats. The
three other communist parties of the United Left Front
coalition
won a total of thirteen seats. Besides the Nepali Congress
Party
and the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist)
alliance, four other parties qualified for national party
status,
which meant they polled more than 3 percent of the total
votes
cast.
The election was marked by heavy voter turnout. Of a
total of
more than 11 million voters, about 7 million, or 65
percent, cast
ballots, of which slightly more than 4 percent were
declared
invalid on technical grounds. The election results made it
very
clear that the promonarchists and those in favor of the
panchayat
system lacked national support. Communist parties won in
the
Kathmandu Valley and some parts of the eastern Tarai
Region. The
Nepali Congress Party won in other parts of the Tarai
Region and in
western Nepal. The National Democratic Party (Chand) won
three
seats and the National Democratic Party (Thapa) won only
one seat.
The four members of those parties, six Nepal Sadbhavana
Party
members, and independents were expected to join the
moderate Nepali
Congress Party. All leftist elements under the Communist
Party of
Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) umbrella were likely to
form a
solid opposition in Parliament to the Nepali Congress
Party
government.
The new House of Representatives included thirteen
members of
the dissolved Rashtriya Panchayat, five Muslims, seven
women, and
six members of the Parliament that had been dissolved in
1960.
Although the number of women representatives was much
lower than
was hoped for, Muslim representation was comparable to
their
proportion of the population. Also notable was the
performance of
the ethnic or regional parties, in particular the
Tarai-based Nepal
Sadbhavana Party, which polled 4 percent of the valid
votes,
allowing it to claim the status of a national party. Out
of the
five seats in Kathmandu, the Nepali Congress Party won one
seat;
the rest were swept by the Communist Party of Nepal
(United
Marxist-Leninist). The average age of the newly elected
members of
the House of Representatives was forty-three.
Kathmandu citizens made it clear that they had enough
of
political dynasties. The son and wife of Nepali Congress
Party
figurehead Ganesh Man Singh ran for two of the
high-profile seats;
both were defeated by communist candidates. In the
prestigious
contest for a seat in Kathmandu, the Communist Party of
Nepal
(United Marxist-Leninist) general secretary, Madan
Bhandari,
defeated interim Prime Minister K.P. Bhattarai. The poor
showing of
the Nepali Congress Party in the urban areas may also be
attributed
to the fact that, given that the communists had been
banned for
thirty years, the party did not see them as potential
opposition
and was overconfident.
The continuing transition from a partyless
panchayat
system to a multiparty democracy was relatively peaceful,
although
there were some incidents of sporadic violence. Six deaths
in
preelection violence were reported, but no
election-related deaths
were confirmed on polling day. Police enforced a curfew
during the
long wait for election results. Because of election
irregularities
and violence, the Election Commission--which enjoyed the
confidence
of all the parties--ordered repolling at 44 of 8,225
polling
centers, affecting 31 constituencies.
In response to the interim government's invitation to
international observers, a host of Asians, Europeans, and
North
Americans journeyed to Kathmandu. Among the observers was
a sixtyfour member international observation delegation,
representing
twenty-two countries, which was organized by Nepal's
National
Election Observation Committee. The committee was an
offshoot of
Nepal's Forum for the Protection of Human Rights. The
international
delegation concluded that the elections generally were
conducted in
a fair, free, and open manner and that the parties were
able to
campaign unimpaired. Complaints were received that equal
and
adequate access to radio and television was denied,
however, and
that the code of conduct and campaign spending limitations
were
violated. The delegation also recognized that, as
confirmed by the
Election Commission, from 5 to 10 percent of eligible
voters were
not registered and that there were some inaccuracies in
voter
lists.
On May 29, 1991, a Nepali Congress Party government was
installed with G.P. Koirala as prime minister. The first
session of
Parliament was held on June 20. The new government faced
two
enormous tasks, both of which concerned India: the
negotiation of
a new trade and transit treaty, and the exploitation of
Nepal's
only major natural resource, water, for hydroelectric
power for
purchase by India. Further, although the Communist Party
of Nepal
(United Marxist-Leninist) faction wanted to end
recruitment of the
Gurkhas into the British and Indian armies, the Nepali
Congress
Party wanted neither to outrage the Gurkhas nor to deprive
the
country of the foreign remittances sent by the soldiers
(see Gurkhas Serving Abroad
, ch. 5).
Data as of September 1991
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