The 2015 Constitution has guaranteed 33% of seats in the federal Parliament and provincial councils for women, but it does not specify how many of them should be elected directly. So political parties intend to fulfil this constitutional requirement by nominating women mainly under quotas for proportional representation (PR) seats, excluding them from a fair chance to contest elections and be endorsed by the people. Parties seem to think that women cannot contest and win elections, which is an insult to women.
Political parties have fielded 802 candidates for the first phase of parliamentary and provincial elections on 26 November. Of them, only 42 (roughly 5%) are women. For the 37 parliamentary seats up for grabs, the NC and the Maoist (Centre) have fielded just 2 and 1 women candidates respectively. The UML has not fielded a single woman candidate. For the 74 provincial council seats, the Maoist (Centre) has fielded 3 women. The NC and the UML have fielded 2 women each.
It has been a decade since Nepal constitutionally designated one-third of seats for women. But it seems that political parties are still stuck to the Constitution of 1990, which stipulated that women had to have 5% of seats.
If political parties try to justify the disappointingly low number of female candidates, it will be just a lame excuse. If they argue that there are no competent women, it only reveals that they have failed to empower their women leaders/cadre. Political parties must make amends for this mistake by fielding more women candidates in the second phase of polls on 7 December. It is not a matter of being kind to women, but of giving them what they deserve.
Editorial in Naya Patrika, 25 October
The disappointing number of women candidates in the first phase of parliamentary and provincial elections raises a question: what is the status of women in Nepali politics?
Despite fielding only 5% women andidates, political parties can still fulfil the constitutional requirement of reserving 33% of seats for women in both the federal Parliament and provincial councils. For this, they have to nominate more women under proportional representation quotas. This will send a message to women that it is not their right, but they owe their represention to the kindness of the menfolk.
This situation shows how deeply entrenched patriarchy is in Nepal politics. During the Maoist war, many women challenged this patriarchy by standing shoulder to shoulder with male guerrillas. In the wake of the war and the Democracy Movement 2006, the first constituent assembly guaranteed 33% of seats for women. A significant number of women fought and won elections. As the battle for equality weakened, the second CA did not turn out to be as inclusive.
The 2015 Constitution requires political parties to field women to the post of either head or deputy head of local councils. The parties could not blatantly violate this provision, but they distorted it, by choosing women mostly as deputy chiefs. This time, they have further marginalised women, disregarding the spirit of the Constitution and fuelling social discord.
Editorial in Nagarik, 25 October
One of the reasons Nepal’s new Constitution is described as progressive is its emphasis on women’s representation. But political parties have found it difficult to fulfil the constitutional requirement that women hold one-third of seats.
The UML has not fielded a single woman candidate for Parliament. The NC and the Maoist (Centre) have fielded two women each. If they repeat this mistake in the second phase of elections on 7 December, it will send the wrong message: elections are for male politicians only, women can make do with proportional representation (PR) seats.
It is not true that political parties lack competent women leaders/cadre, but the parties have no faith in their abilities. This state of affairs utterly disregards
the Constitution’s inclusive provisions.