Dear Editor,
The landlocked Himalayan nation of Nepal goes to the polls on April 10 to choose a national assembly that will be selected from a combination of the PR system Guyana currently has as well as a first past the post (FPTP) system that Guyana had during colonial rule.
Up for grabs are 240 FPTP seats and 335 PR seats. Some 26 additional seats will be appointed by the Prime Minister.
In Nepal, every voter will be given two ballots, one listing candidates contesting the FPTP election from their constituency and one listing the parties for PR seats. The Prime Minister will be chosen from the party or combination of parties that have a majority of seats.
Polls indicate that none of the parties will win a majority of seats with the main contenders being Nepali Congress (NC), Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist). There are also a dozen other small parties. A coalition government that shares power is the likely scenario with the Congress getting about 30% of the seats and the two communists parties about 25% seats.
The concept of power sharing has been bandied about in commentaries in the Guyana dailies. Guyana may want to look at this new electoral system in Nepal where voters will be in a better position to hold their elected MPs and political parties accountable and that will force the parties to share political power rather than have one party control or dominate the government.
In Nepal, the new government will abolish the constitutional monarchy in favour of a ceremonial President, similar to what Guyana had before the current imposed Burnham Constitution, and will draft a new Constitution for a plebiscite.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
