When the Election Commission wraps up the federal parliament election process with declaration of final results of National Assembly (NA) elections on Friday, it will clear the deck for the formation of a new government along with the commencement of bicameral legislature for the first time in two decades.

The constitution authorises the President to appoint the prime minister and convene the meeting of both the House of Representatives (HoR) and the NA within 30 days of the HoR election results.

Though the elections to the Lower House concluded two months earlier, the EC has yet to publish the final results pending the Upper House elections to ensure 33 percent women representation in the federal parliament.

Article 84 says at least one third of the total number of members elected from each political party representing in the federal parliament must be women, meaning there should be 33 percent representation of the women in the HoR and NA combined. The EC will announce the results of both the houses in accordance with the provision in Article 84.

“The HoR doesn’t need to vote to appoint new PM,” Bharat Raj Gautam, spokesperson for Parliament Secretariat, told the Post.Article 76 authorises the President to appoint an HoR member who commands a majority with the support of two or more parties in the House. If that doesn’t happen within a month, the President may appoint a parliamentary party leader of the largest party in the HoR as the prime minister. The PM appointed under the provision, however, needs to get a vote of confidence from the House within 30 days.

The HoR has to elect Speaker and Deputy Speaker and the NA has to pick its chair and vice-chair within 15 days of their first meeting. Nepal had been practicing unicameral system of legislature since the Constituent Assembly elections in 2008.