The upcoming federal parliamentary and provincial assembly elections have less number of candidates under the first-past-the-post category compared to the 2013 Constituent Assembly elections even as the number of constituencies has gone up this time.

With 495 seats up for grabs—165 for federal parliament and 330 for provincial assemblies, the general perception could be that the number candidates exceeded the figures four years ago. However, as the Election Commission (EC) made public the final list of second-phase election candidates, their total number is 5,184, down from 6,128 in the second CA vote.

If we take account of the candidates contesting for the federal parliament seats only, the number is drastically down. As many as 6,128 candidates stood for 240 seats in 2013 whereas just 1,905 are in the fray for 165 seats now.

Observers point to the provision of threshold in the electoral laws, impact of the recently held local level elections when the parties fielded many candidates, electoral alliances among the parties and the rising cost of contesting elections as possible factors pulling down the number.

The Law on the Elections of House of Representatives makes it mandatory for a party to have three percent votes in the proportional election system for securing representation in the federal parliament. Likewise, the Act on Election to Provincial Assembly requires a party to secure 1.5 percent votes for representation in a provincial assembly. Besides, each party has to win an FPTP seat to be recognised as a national party.

These legal provisions, according to experts, discouraged many smaller parties to participate in the elections, thereby bringing the number of candidates down.

“Many smaller parties went for merger with larger parties. For example, the Nepal Loktantrik Forum led by Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar merged with the Nepali Congress, which contributed to the drop,” said former election commissioner Dolakh Bahadur Gurung.

Political analysts said the electoral alliance between the parties—particularly between the leftist and democratic forces—also led to the decline in the number of candidates.

The CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist) Centre formed an alliance while the Congress pushed for a “democratic” alliance. The alliance brought down the number of candidates both in the UML and the Maoists as they shared the constituencies 60:40.

On the other hand, many prominent leaders have chosen the proportional system instead of direct polls due to the ballooning campaign costs. “People from middle class families and those who do not expect to become a minister or to commit irregularities have also avoided the FPTP election,” said Lok Raj Baral, a political analyst.

The EC has set Rs2.5million as the spending limit for a federal election candidate and Rs1.5 million for a provincial election contender. But few believe the expenditure cap will be respected as the stakes are so high.

At 31, Rautahat-1 has the largest number of candidates for the federal elections. In the CA elections held four years ago, Dhanusa-4 had the largest number of candidates—62.

EU poll observers meet PM, Oli

KATHMANDU: Chief of the European Union election observation mission Jeljan Jobco held separate talks with PM Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli on Monday. In the meetings, matters relating to the upcoming elections to the House of Representatives and State Assemblies were discussed, according to PM’s foreign affairs adviser Dinesh Bhattarai.

In its meeting with UML Chair Oli, the mission discussed a wide range of issues related to the polls. Oli assured the mission that his party would spare no effort to make the elections free and fair, according to the party. (PR)