Changing Electoral Landscape

The November 20 elections to the House of Representatives (HoR) underlie a change in the electoral landscape. The heterogeneity of the nation’s population, parties, mixed election system and raising of rich tapestry of issues by political leaders beyond the normative spirit of constitution have produced a very uneasy situation for leaders of Nepali Congress (NC) and Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML). They habitually competed the elections as rival power blocs, craving for prime ministerial sorting, not common good. The electoral outcome, however, produced a hung parliament, with no power bloc winning a clear majority of seats in the 375-member HoR to form a new government, keep its efficiency in public policy matters and shore up political stability without enticing the cooperation of those outside their electoral coalition.