Presidential election in Nepal scheduled for Thursday

Nepal is going to elect a new head of state on Thursday. According to Nepal’s constitution, a person who has already been elected twice as the president shall not be eligible to be a candidate again, hence, Bidya Devi Bhandari after completion of second tenure as president could not contest for the post for the third time.

A presidential candidate should hold Nepali citizenship based on descent. Secondly, the candidate should be over 45 years old. The candidate’s name also should be registered in the latest electoral roll of the rural municipality or municipality. The candidate should not be ineligible by any law and s/he should not hold any position of profit.

To elect the president of Nepal, the electoral college includes all members of the House of Representatives and the National Assembly of the federal parliament and members of all seven provincial parliaments, as per article 62 of the constitution.

Accordingly, there will be a total of 884 members including 275 members of the House of Representatives (Lower House), 59 members of the National Assembly (Upper House) and 550 members of seven provincial assemblies.

In the Nepal presidential election, the voting members have different weights assigned to their votes. A vote cast by a member of the federal parliament, including both upper and lower houses, will be considered to have a weight of 79 votes whereas a vote cast by a member of a provincial assembly will be considered to have a weight of 48 votes.

The weight assigned is according to the ratio of lawmakers to the total population of the country as calculated in the 2011 census.

A candidate who secures more than 50 per cent of the total votes in the voting of the Nepal presidential election shall be elected as the president.