See also special areas

At a glance

Structure of Parliament: Unicameral

Are there legislated quotas...

  • Yes for the Single/Lower House?
  • Yes at the Sub-national level?

Are there voluntary quotas...

  • No adopted by political parties?

Nepal

(Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal)

Single/Lower house

Sansad / Parliament

Total seats:594
Total women:197
% women: 33%
Election year:2008
Electoral system:FPTP
Quota type: Legislated Candidate Quotas
Election details: IDEA Voter Turnout
IPU Parline
Legal sourceDetails
Quota type:
Legislated Candidate Quotas		 ConstitutionThe Constituent Assembly shall comprise of 240 members elected from each of the constituencies with the FPTP-system; 335 members elected from the political parties with the PR-system; and 26 members appointed by the Council of Ministers (Constitution, Article 63 [3]). Women must constitute at least 33 percent of candidates for the FPTP-system and the PR-system combined (Constitution, Article 63 [5]).
Electoral law For the PR-elections, the parties must ensure women's proportional representation, clarified in Schedule 1 to mean 50 percent women on party candidate lists (Election to Members of the Constituent Assembly, Article 7 [3] and Schedule 1).
Legal sanctions for non-compliance: Electoral law If the lists of candidates submitted for the PR elections fail to meet the quota rule of 50 percent women, the Electoral Commission will, according to its Regulations, remove candidates to meet the quota provision and therefore make the list valid.
Rank order/placement rules: No data available No data available

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Last updated 2009-11-24

Quota at the Sub-National Level

Quota type:Legislated Candidate Quotas
Legal sourceDetails
Quota type:
Legislated Candidate Quotas
 Constitution The Local Self Government Act from 1999 states that among the candidates in elections to Municipal Councils 40 percent must be women (Local Self Government Act, Article 76).
Legal sanctions for non-compliance: No data available No data available
Rank order/placement rules: No data available No data available

Sources | Additional information | Contact us

Last updated 2009-11-24

Additional information

Due to the current political unrest in Nepal, the government, parliament, cabinet, and king are no longer in working order. Instead, an interim constitution has been issued, a Constituent Assembly has been elected, and the work of creating a new government, parliament, and cabinet has started.

 

The Local Self Government Act has, because of this, not been put into practice and the local government structures is now about to be changed into a federal system.

 

Given the combined one-third quota for women in the constitution, and the 50 % quota in Schedule 1 of the electoral law, circa 17 % of the nomination places for the elections to the Constituent Assembly in the FPTP-system were reserved for women.

Last updated 2009-11-24

Sources

Additional reading

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