Kathmandu: Nepal’s interim government will take steps toward amending the current constitution, with reforms aimed at ensuring full proportional and inclusive representation based on population and introducing term limits for elected officials in key state positions.
As per the 10-point agreement reached between Gen-Z representatives and the government on Wednesday night, a high-level ‘Constitution Amendment Recommendation Commission’ will be formed with the participation of concerned stakeholders, including independent experts and Gen-Z representatives.
The commission will be mandated to submit a report with recommendations for progressive constitutional change, in line with the aspirations of Gen-Z protesters who brought down the previous K.P. Sharma Oli-led government, paving the way for the current administration led by Sushila Karki.
The commission will recommend necessary reforms in the electoral system to ensure full proportional and inclusive representation based on the population of a particular community.
Currently, Nepal’s constitution provides for a mixed electoral system — first-past-the-post (FPTP) and proportional representation (PR) — for electing members to the House of Representatives and Provincial Assemblies. Under the FPTP system, 60 per cent of representatives are elected, while the remaining 40 per cent are elected through proportional representation.
As per the agreement, the commission will also recommend term limits for the head of state, heads of government at all three tiers — federal, provincial, and local — and members of executive bodies, capping their tenure at a maximum of two terms not exceeding a total of 10 years.
Currently, term limits apply only to the president, vice-president, and chiefs of local governments. No term limits exist for the heads of federal or provincial governments.
The tendency of the same political leaders repeatedly assuming power without delivering results — likened to a game of musical chairs — had frustrated Nepali youths, and the anger was visibly displayed during the Gen-Z protests in September this year.
In the years preceding the Gen-Z movement, top leaders, including Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress, K.P. Sharma Oli of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), and Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” of the newly reconstituted Nepal Communist Party, repeatedly took charge of the government. They became the targets of Gen-Z protesters in September, when their residences were burned and vandalised.
The commission will also study the proposal to reduce the minimum age for candidacy in the House of Representatives, Provincial Assembly, and local-level elected positions to 21 years. Currently, the minimum age to contest federal parliament and provincial assemblies is 25 years, while for local-level elected positions it is 21.
Given the growing tendency to appoint individuals to state bodies based on political loyalty and financial interests, the commission will examine necessary reforms to the existing structures responsible for such appointments.
For example, it will study reforms to the Constitutional Council and Judicial Council — responsible for appointing members of constitutional commissions and judges, respectively — to ensure complete freedom from political and partisan interference, enable autonomous and independent functioning, and guarantee youth representation and participation in state structures.
When the K.P. Sharma Oli-led government was formed in July 2024, its two coalition partners — the Nepali Congress and the CPN (UML) — had pledged to amend the constitution to ensure political stability. Leaders of both parties had expressed the view that the proportional electoral system should be scrapped to allow a single party to secure enough seats to form a government.
However, no measures were taken to amend the constitution before that government was ousted following the Gen-Z protests in September.
Even though the government has now agreed to initiate constitutional amendments, it remains unclear how the major political parties — which were key players in promulgating the current constitution — will respond to these proposed changes.
When the constitution was promulgated in 2015, it was expected to usher in political stability and prosperity. Instead, the country experienced repeated political instability and poor governance, ultimately triggering the Gen-Z protests this year.
(IANS)
