2017 Nepalese local elections

The 2017 Nepalese local elections were held in Nepal in three phases on 14 May, 28 June and 18 September in 6 metropolitan cities, 11 sub-metropolitan cities, 276 municipalities and 460 rural municipalities.[1] It was the first local level election to be held since the promulgation of the 2015 constitution.[2]

2017 Nepalese local elections

← 2006 14 May 2017
28 June 2017
18 September 2017
2022 →

6 Metropolitan Cities
11 Sub-Metropolitan Cities
276 Municipalities
460 Rural Municipalities
Turnout73.81% (first round)
73.38% (second round)
77% (third round)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Khadga Prasad Oli Sher Bahadur Deuba Pushpa Kamal Dahal
Party UML Congress Maoist Centre
Leader since July 2014 7 March 2016 May 1999
Mayors/Chair persons 294 266 106

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Upendra Yadav Mahantha Thakur Bijay Kumar Gachhadar
Party FSFN RJPN NLF
Leader since 15 June 2015 21 April 2017 5 April 2017
Mayors/Chair persons 34 25 9

  Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party
 
Leader Kamal Thapa Chitra Bahadur KC Baburam Bhattarai
Party RPP Janamorcha Naya Shakti
Leader since 20 February 2017 26 May 2006 June 2016
Mayors/Chair persons 5 3 2

Background

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Local elections were held in 53 municipalities in February 2006 under regime of King Gyanendra but were boycotted by the major political parties and saw low voter turnout.[3] Prior to 2006, the previous elections was held in 1997 with a mandate of five years. Elections were supposed to be held on 2002 but were delayed due to the then ongoing Nepal Civil War.

With the promulgation of the new constitution in 2015, a three-tier governance system was introduced, with national, provincial and local levels of governance. A Local Body Restructuring Commission was established as required by the constitution under the chairmanship of Balananda Paudel. The commission proposed 719 local structures which was revised to 753 by the government. The new local levels were formed by changing the existing cities and village development council and came into existence on 10 March 2017.[4]

Electoral system

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Local levels will have a Chairperson/Mayor and a Deputy chairperson/mayor. Local levels are further subdivided into wards which will have a ward chairperson and 4 members. Out of the 4 members 2 must be female. All terms are for a total of 5 years. The elections are direct in nature and with the one getting the most ballots is declared the winner.[5]

Local Level Type Choice
Metropolitan City One Mayor, One Deputy Mayor, One Ward Chairman, 4 Ward members
Sub Metropolitan City One Mayor, One Deputy Mayor, One Ward Chairman, 4 Ward members
Municipality One Mayor, One Deputy Mayor, One Ward Chairman, 4 Ward members
Rural Municipality One Head, One Deputy Head, One Ward Chairman, 4 Ward members

Results

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Overall Results

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Parties Mayor/Chairman Deputy Mayor/Chairman Ward Chairman Ward Member
Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) 294 331 2,560 10,912
Nepali Congress 266 223 2,286 8,679
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) 106 111 1,102 4,123
Federal Socialist Forum, Nepal 34 32 262 1,111
Rastriya Janata Party Nepal 25 30 195 862
Nepal Loktantrik Forum 9 8 88 356
Independents 6 5 91 131
Rastriya Prajatantra Party 5 7 59 214
Rastriya Janamorcha 3 4 33 146
Naya Shakti Party, Nepal 2 1 22 91
Nepali Janata Dal 2 0 7 30
Nepal Workers' and Peasants' Party 1 1 22 75
Bahujan Shakti Party 0 0 8 34
Rastriya Janamukti Party 0 0 3 17
Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Democratic) 0 0 2 5
Federal Democratic National Forum 0 0 1 6
Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) 0 0 1 3
Nepal Pariwar Dal 0 0 0 1
Total 753 753 6,742 26,790

Results by province

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Province No. 1

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Parties Mayor/Head Deputy Mayor/Head Ward Chair Ward Member
Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) 69 85 554 2511
Nepali Congress 51 38 418 1492
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) 9 7 114 388
Nepal Loktantrik Forum 3 4 20 80
Rastriya Prajatantra Party 3 1 9 26
Federal Socialist Forum Nepal 2 2 28 106
Independents 0 0 8 10
Naya Shakti Party, Nepal 0 0 2 2
Federal Democratic National Forum 0 0 1 6
Rastriya Janamukti Party 0 0 1 4
Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) 0 0 1 0
Total 137 137 1,156 4,513
Source: Election Commission of Nepal

Province No. 2

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Parties Mayor/Head Deputy Mayor/Head Ward Chair Ward Member
Nepali Congress 40 35 338 1111
Federal Socialist Forum Nepal 26 25 191 815
Rastriya Janata Party Nepal 25 30 195 862
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) 21 24 230 853
Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) 18 19 230 983
Nepal Loktantrik Forum 3 3 32 128
Nepali Janata Dal 2 0 7 30
Naya Shakti Party, Nepal 1 0 5 16
Independents 0 0 32 26
Rastriya Prajatantra Party 0 0 6 22
Rastriya Janamukti Party 0 0 2 6
Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Democratic) 0 0 2 5
Bahujan Shakti Party 0 0 1 4
Total 136 136 1,271 5,075
Source: Election Commission of Nepal

Province No. 3

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Parties Mayor/Head Deputy Mayor/Head Ward Chair Ward Member
Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) 64 69 537 2,333
Nepali Congress 35 32 367 1,324
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) 16 17 176 660
Rastriya Prajatantra Party 1 1 15 43
Nepal Workers' and Peasants' Party 1 1 12 40
Naya Shakti Party, Nepal 1 0 5 24
Independents 0 0 7 6
Nepal Loktantrik Forum 0 0 2 3
Total 119 119 1,121 4,433
Source: Election Commission of Nepal

Province No. 4

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Parties Mayor/Head Deputy Mayor/Head Ward Chair Ward Member
Nepali Congress 44 37 342 1,351
Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) 34 36 316 1,261
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) 5 7 69 267
Rastriya Janamorcha 1 2 15 56
Independents 1 1 10 32
Rastriya Prajatantra Party 0 2 2 12
Naya Shakti Party, Nepal 0 0 5 24
Rastriya Janamukti Party 0 0 0 2
Total 85 85 759 3,005
Source: Election Commission of Nepal

Province No. 5

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Parties Mayor/Head Deputy Mayor/Head Ward Chair Ward Member
Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) 43 47 355 1,498
Nepali Congress 33 31 317 1,223
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) 19 22 181 692
Federal Socialist Forum, Nepal 6 5 43 190
Independents 3 0 21 44
Rastriya Janamorcha 2 2 18 89
Nepal Loktantrik Forum 2 0 19 76
Rastriya Prajatantra Party 1 1 17 65
Naya Shakti Party, Nepal 0 1 5 17
Bahujan Shakti Party 0 0 7 30
Rastriya Janamukti Party 0 0 0 5
Total 109 109 983 3,929
Source: Election Commission of Nepal

Province No. 6

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Parties Mayor/Head Deputy Mayor/Head Ward Chair Ward Member
Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) 27 31 268 1,074
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) 25 26 219 876
Nepali Congress 25 16 203 776
Independents 2 4 11 10
Rastriya Prajatantra Party 0 2 7 36
Nepal Workers' and Peasants' Party 0 0 10 35
Nepal Loktantrik Forum 0 0 0 1
Nepal Pariwar Dal 0 0 0 1
Rastriya Janamorcha 0 0 0 1
Total 79 79 718 2,810
Source: Election Commission of Nepal

Province No. 7

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Parties Mayor/Head Deputy Mayor/Head Ward Chair Ward Member
Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) 39 44 300 1,249
Nepali Congress 38 34 301 1,192
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) 10 9 113 400
Nepal Loktantrik Forum 1 1 15 68
Rastriya Prajatantra Party 0 0 3 10
Independents 0 0 2 3
Naya Shakti Party, Nepal 0 0 0 2
Total 88 88 734 2,924
Source: Election Commission of Nepal

Cities

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City Mayor Deputy Mayor
Kathmandu Bidya Sundar Shakya (UML) Hari Prabha Khadgi (NC)
Lalitpur Chiri Babu Maharjan (NC) Gita Satyal (NC)
Pokhara Lekhnath Man Bahadur GC (UML) Manju Devi Gurung (UML)
Bharatpur Renu Dahal (MC) Parbati Shah Thakuri (NC)
Hetauda Hari Bahadur Mahat (UML) Mina Kumari Lama (UML)
Ghorahi Naru Lal Chaudhary (UML) Sita Neupane (UML)
Nepalgunj Dhawal Shamsher JBR (RPP) Uma Thapa Magar (NC)
Butwal Shiva Raj Subedi (UML) Guma Devi Acharya (UML)
Tuslipur Ghana Shyam Pandey (UML) Maya Sharma (UML)
Itahari Dwarik Lal Chaudhary (UML) Laxmi Kumari Gautam (UML)
Dhangadhi Nrip Bahadur Wad (NC) Sushila Mishra (NC)
Biratnagar Bheem Parajuli (NC) Indira Karki (NC)
Dharan Tara Subba (UML) Manju Bhandari (UML)
Janakpur Lal Kishore Shah (RJPN) Rita Kumari Mishra (RJPN)
Jitpur Simara Krishna Prasad Paudel (UML) Saraswati Devi Chaudhary (UML)
Kalaiya Rajesh Rae Yadav (NC) Raheema Khatun (NC)
Birgunj Vijay Kumar Sarawagi (FSFN) Shanti Karki (NC)

Incidents

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The first phase of election was largely peaceful but there were sporadic instances of violence. A CPN-UML activist was killed in Gaurisankar Village Council, Dolakha on the eve of election.[6] Another person was killed in Namobuddha municipality, Kavre on the day of election, the incident is still under investigation.[7] One person died after security personnel opened fire during a clash between the cadres of Nepali Congress and CPN-UML in Melung Rural Municipality of Dolakha district on election day.[8] A candidate from Rastriya Prajantantra Party died in Naraharinath Village Council, Kalikot after police opened fire when cadres of Netra Bikram Chand led CPN tried to capture the ballot boxes.[9]

A reelection took place in one ward of Bharatpur after a CPN-Maoist Centre vote count representative tore 90 ballot papers when the count was in progress.[10]

In the second phase, a UML cadre died after being hit by a stone in his testicles during a clash with Nepali Congress cadres at Chededaha Village council Bajura. A cadre of Netra Bikram Chand-led CPN Maoist died in Dhangadi, Kailali after a bomb carried by him exploded prematurely on June 26.[11]

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References

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  1. ^ "Grassroots democracy". Nepali Times. Himal Media. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  2. ^ Koirala, Kosh Raj. "Local polls after 20 years, finally". My Republica. Nepal Republic Media. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  3. ^ "Nepal Assessment 2006". South Asian Terrorism Portal. Institute for conflict management. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  4. ^ "New local level structure comes into effect from today". THT online. International Media Network Nepal (Pvt) Ltd. 10 March 2017. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  5. ^ "हेर्नुहोस्, तपाईले भोट हाल्ने मतपत्र (नमूनासहित)". onlinekhabar.com. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  6. ^ "दाेलखा घटना – ३९ जना विरुद्ध कर्तव्य ज्यानको मुद्दा दर्ता". nepaliheadlines.com. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  7. ^ "APF accused of killing youth in Kavre". The Himalayan Time. 15 May 2017. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  8. ^ "Chief Commissioner speech" (PDF). Election Commission of Nepal. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  9. ^ "One injured from police bullets died in Kalikot". My Republica. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  10. ^ "Nepali Times | the Brief » Blog Archive » Bharatpur repoll condemned".
  11. ^ "CPN Maoist cadre dies after bomb explodes prematurely". ekantipur. Kantipur Publications. Retrieved 23 August 2017.