2023 Nepalese presidential election

The fourth presidential election of Nepal, to elect the country's third president since the abolition of the monarchy, was held on 9 March 2023.[3]

2023 Nepalese presidential election
9 March 2023 (2023-03-09)
Registered881
 
Candidate Ram Chandra Paudel[1] Subaschandra Nemwang[2]
Party Nepali Congress CPN (UML)
Electoral vote 33,802 15,518
Percentage 65.54% 31.46%
President before election

Bidya Devi Bhandari
CPN (UML)

 Elected President

Ram Chandra Poudel
Nepali Congress

The term of the incumbent president, Bidya Devi Bhandari, first elected in 2015, was set to expire on 13 March 2023. She was term-limited and could not seek re-election, with the Constitution of Nepal barring her from doing so.[4][5]

Electoral process

The President of Nepal is elected by the majority of the votes of all members of the electoral colleges. If no candidate is elected, a second round is held between the top two candidates of the first round, under the same majority. As the latter is of the total votes including blank and invalid ones as well as abstentions, it is possible no candidate is elected in the first and second rounds. A third may then be held with the same candidates as in the second. The candidate with the majority of valid votes is then elected president.[6]

Part 6, Article 64 of the Constitution of Nepal 2015 sets the following qualifications for holding the presidency:

  1. A person shall be eligible to be president if he/she fulfils the following qualifications:
    • He/she is eligible to be a member of the Federal Parliament.
    • He/she has attained at least 45 years of age, and
    • Is not ineligible by any law.
  2. Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (1), a person who has already been elected president for two terms, shall not be eligible to be a presidential candidate for the presidential election thereafter.

Election schedule

The Election Commission announced the schedule for the presidential elections on 30 January 2023.[7]

Presidential election schedule
22 February Publication of initial electoral roll
22 – 24 February Claims and scrutiny on electoral roll
24 February Publication of final electoral roll
25 February Nomination of candidates
26 – 28 February Scrutiny on nominations
28 February Publication of final list of nominations
9 March Date of election

Electoral college

The electoral college is composed in 2023 of 881 members, of which 331 are from the federal parliament and 550 from the provincial assemblies, with a vote "weight" of 79 and 48 each, respectively. While the federal parliament is made of 275 members from the lower house and 59 from the upper one, 2 members of the lower house were unable to be registered in the electoral college because of a judicial affair and a third one died, thus lowering the electoral college total from the normal number of 884 to 881, and the grand total of weighted votes from 52,786 to 52,549.[8][9]

Electoral college composition
Composition[10]
Party Pratinidhi Sabha Rastriya Sabha Pradesh Sabha Total electors

 Nepali Congress 88[lower-alpha 1] 10 175 273

 CPN (UML) 79 18 162 259

 CPN (Maoist Centre) 31 16 85 132

 CPN (Unified Socialist) 10 8 25 43

 Rastriya Prajatantra Party 14 0 28 42

 People's Socialist Party 11 3 23 37

 Janamat Party 6 0 16 22

 Rastriya Swatantra Party 19 0 0 19

 Loktantrik Samajwadi Party 4 1 12 17

 Nagarik Unmukti Party 4 0 12 16

 Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party 1 0 3 4

 Rastriya Janamorcha 1 1 1 3
Nepal Socialist Party 1 0 2 3

 Hamro Nepali Party 0 0 2 2

 Independent 3 2 4 9
Total 272[lower-alpha 2] 59 550 881

Electoral college vote value composition
Party Pratinidhi Sabha Rastriya Sabha Pradesh Sabha Total votes Percentage

 Nepali Congress 6,952 790 8,400 16,142 30.72

 CPN (UML) 6,241 1,422 7,776 15,439 29.38

 CPN (Maoist Centre) 2,449 1,264 4,080 7,793 14.83

 CPN (Unified Socialist) 790 632 1,200 2,622 4.99

 Rastriya Prajatantra Party 1,106 0 1,344 2,450 4.66

 People's Socialist Party 869 237 1,104 2,210 4.21

 Rastriya Swatantra Party 1501 0 0 1,501 2.86

 Janamat Party 474 0 768 1,242 2.36

 Loktantrik Samajwadi Party 316 79 576 971 1.85

 Nagarik Unmukti Party 316 0 576 892 1.70

 Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party 79 0 144 223 0.42

 Rastriya Janamorcha 79 79 48 206 0.39
Nepal Socialist Party 79 0 96 175 0.33

 Hamro Nepali Party 0 0 96 96 0.18

 Independent 237 158 192 587 1.12
Total 21,488 4,661 26,400 52,549 100

Candidates

On 24 February 2023, Ram Chandra Paudel of the Nepali Congress was chosen as the common candidate of an alliance of eight political parties; Congress, CPN (Maoist Centre), CPN (Unified Socialist), PSPN, Janamat, LSPN, NUP and RJM.[11] The next day, the CPN (UML) announced that it would field party vice-chair Subas Chandra Nemwang as its presidential candidate.[12]

Nepali Congress
Candidate Born Positions held Province Announced Ref

Ram Chandra Poudel		 (1944-10-15)15 October 1944 (aged 78)
Tanahun, Gandaki		 Gandaki 25 February 2023 [13]

Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist)
Candidate Born Positions held Province Announced Ref

Subas Chandra Nemwang		 (1954-03-11)11 March 1954 (aged 68)
Ilam, Koshi		 Koshi 25 February 2023 [14]

Results
Results[15]
Candidate Party Votes Total
votes		  %
Federal Provincial Total
Ram Chandra Poudel NC 214 352 566 33,802 68.54
Subas Chandra Nemwang CPN (UML) 98 162 260 15,518 31.46
Valid votes 312 514 826 49,320 99.40
Blank and invalid votes 1 4 5 271 0.60
Total 313 518 831 49,591 100
Electors / turnout 331 550 881 52,549 94.32

See also

Notes
  1. excluding 1 suspended MP
  2. excluding 2 vacant seats and 1 suspended MP

References
  1. "राष्ट्रपति पदमा कांग्रेसबाट रामचन्द्र पाैडेलको उम्मेदवारी दर्ता". ekantipur.com (in Nepali). Archived from the original on 2023-03-05. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  2. "राष्ट्रपति पदमा एमालेबाट सुवास नेम्वाङको उम्मेदवारी दर्ता". ekantipur.com (in Nepali). Archived from the original on 2023-02-25. Retrieved 2023-02-25.
  3. "Presidential election to be held on March 9". The Himalayan Times. 2023-01-31. Archived from the original on 2023-02-12. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
  4. Says, Mayorge. "Part-6 President and Vice-President – Nepal Law Commission". Archived from the original on 2021-06-06. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  5. "History & Background". Office of the President of Nepal. Archived from the original on 2021-06-06. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  6. "Constitution" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-02-15. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  7. "राष्ट्रपति तथा उपराष्ट्रपतिको निर्वाचन मिति घोषणा सम्बन्धमा" (PDF). Election Commission (Nepal) (in Nepali). 30 January 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 March 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  8. Republica. "EC publishes voters list for presidential election". My Republica. Archived from the original on 22 February 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2023..
  9. Republica. "MP Arun Chaudhary, who was granted clemency by Prez, released from jail". My Republica. Archived from the original on 22 February 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2023..
  10. Republica. "President's Election: Filing of nomination papers today". My Republica. Archived from the original on 2023-02-26. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  11. "Eight political parties to support Congress candidate in presidential election". kathmandupost.com. Archived from the original on 2023-03-05. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  12. "UML to field Subas Nembang as presidential candidate". kathmandupost.com. Archived from the original on 2023-03-05. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  13. "Ram Chandra Paudel files candidacy for President". kathmandupost.com. Archived from the original on 2023-02-26. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  14. "Subas Nembang files candidacy for President". kathmandupost.com. Archived from the original on 2023-02-26. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  15. "Ram Chandra Paudel is new President". kathmandupost.com. Archived from the original on 9 March 2023. Retrieved 9 March 2023..


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