Nepalese legislative elections, 1994
Encyclopedia
The 1994 Nepalese legislative election took place in Nepal
on 15 November 1994 to elect the Nepal House of Representatives
(Pratinidhi Sabha). The election took place after the previous Nepali Congress
government collapsed and King Birenda
called new elections. The results saw the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist)
win the most seats in the House of Representatives and Man Mohan Adhikari
became Prime Minister at the head of a minority government
.
in 1990 and to become a constitutional monarch after increasing protests by the 1990 People's Movement. The 1991 multi-party elections saw the Nepali Congress party win a majority with 112 of the 205 seats. Girija Prasad Koirala
was chosen by the Nepali Congress as their leader in parliament and was appointed Prime Minister.
By 1994 the economic situation in Nepal had worsened and the opposition accused the government of being corrupt. Divisions had also arisen within the Nepali Congress after Prime Minister Koirala was accused of helping to ensure that the president of the Nepali Congress, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai
, was defeated in a by-election
in February 1994. These divisions led to 36 Nepali Congress members of parliament
abstaining
on a parliamentary vote in July 1994 leading to the government losing the vote. As a result Koirala offered his resignation as Prime Minister and King Birenda dissolved parliament
with new elections called for the 13 November. Koirala stayed on as caretaker Prime Minister
until the election.
. The Nepali Congress called on voters to stick with their party and not to entrust power to a Communist party they accused of being irresponsible.
The Communist party called for land reform
to break up large landholdings and give land to landless Nepalese peasants. Other pledges made by the party included running water
and electricity
for all voters and for each village to have at least one television
. While the party called for foreign investment to be somewhat restricted and for privitisations to be limited, they also stressed that they believed in a mixed economy
and did not support nationalisation. They accused the Nepali Congress government of having been incompetent and corrupt and said that a change in government was required.
On election day
itself there was some violence resulting in one death and another 15 people being injured. 124 international election monitors observed the election and new polls were ordered in 31 constituencies
where violence had occurred.
was 58% a decline from the 60% who had voted in the previous election in 1991.
Source: Election Commission of Nepal
as leader of the party in parliament and he attempted to form a minority government. King Birendra asked both the Communists and the Nepali Congress party to explain to him why they should be allowed to form the government and then he would make a decision on who should be appointed Prime Minister. The Nepali Congress attempted to form a deal with smaller parties including the Rastriya Prajatantra Party in order to try to stay in power. However this was unsuccessful and Adhikari became Prime Minister at the head of a minority Communist government
. They therefore became the first elected communist government in a constitutional monarchy anywhere in the world and the first communist government in Asia to come into power democratically.
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
on 15 November 1994 to elect the Nepal House of Representatives
Nepal House of Representatives
The House of Representatives was the lower house of parliament during the 1990 Constitution in Nepal. It consisted of 205 members directly elected by the people. It had five-year terms, but it could be dissolved by the king on the advice of the prime minister before the ending of its term.On...
(Pratinidhi Sabha). The election took place after the previous Nepali Congress
Nepali Congress
The Nepali Congress is a Nepalese political party. Nepali Congress led the 1950 Democratic Movement which successfully ended the Rana dynasty and allowed commoners to take part in the polity. It again led a democratic movement in 1990, in partnership with leftist forces, to end monarchy and...
government collapsed and King Birenda
Birendra of Nepal
Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev was a King of Nepal. The son of King Mahendra, whom he succeeded in 1972, he reigned until his death in the 2001 Nepalese royal massacre...
called new elections. The results saw the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist)
Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist)
The Communist Party of Nepal , also known as CPN-UML, CPN, is one of the largest communist parties in Nepal. It was created on January 6, 1991 through the unification of the Communist Party of Nepal and the Communist Party of Nepal...
win the most seats in the House of Representatives and Man Mohan Adhikari
Man Mohan Adhikari
Man Mohan Adhikari was the Prime Minister of Nepal from 1994 to 1995, representing the Communist Party of Nepal . He was the first democratically-elected Communist Party member to be PM in Nepal....
became Prime Minister at the head of a minority government
Minority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...
.
Background
King Birenda agreed to introduce democracyDemocracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
in 1990 and to become a constitutional monarch after increasing protests by the 1990 People's Movement. The 1991 multi-party elections saw the Nepali Congress party win a majority with 112 of the 205 seats. Girija Prasad Koirala
Girija Prasad Koirala
Girija Prasad Koirala was a Nepalese politician and the President of the Nepali Congress, a major political party. He was Prime Minister of Nepal for four times, serving from 1991 to 1994, 1998 to 1999, 2000 to 2001, and from 2006 to 2008; he was also Acting Head of State from January 2007 to July...
was chosen by the Nepali Congress as their leader in parliament and was appointed Prime Minister.
By 1994 the economic situation in Nepal had worsened and the opposition accused the government of being corrupt. Divisions had also arisen within the Nepali Congress after Prime Minister Koirala was accused of helping to ensure that the president of the Nepali Congress, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai
Krishna Prasad Bhattarai
Krishna Prasad Bhattarai was a Nepalese political leader. As a leader of the Nepali Congress Party, he made his position by transitioning Nepal from an absolute monarchy to a democratic multi-party system.Bhattarai was twice the Prime Minister of Nepal, once heading the Interim Government from 19...
, was defeated in a by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
in February 1994. These divisions led to 36 Nepali Congress members of parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
abstaining
Abstention
Abstention is a term in election procedure for when a participant in a vote either does not go to vote or, in parliamentary procedure, is present during the vote, but does not cast a ballot. Abstention must be contrasted with "blank vote", in which a voter casts a ballot willfully made invalid by...
on a parliamentary vote in July 1994 leading to the government losing the vote. As a result Koirala offered his resignation as Prime Minister and King Birenda dissolved parliament
Dissolution of parliament
In parliamentary systems, a dissolution of parliament is the dispersal of a legislature at the call of an election.Usually there is a maximum length of a legislature, and a dissolution must happen before the maximum time...
with new elections called for the 13 November. Koirala stayed on as caretaker Prime Minister
Caretaker government
Caretaker government is a type of government that rules temporarily. A caretaker government is often set up following a war until stable democratic rule can be restored, or installed, in which case it is often referred to as a provisional government...
until the election.
Campaign
The election saw 1,500 candidates spread over 24 parties competing for the 205 seats in the House of Representatives. The leading two parties in the election were the governing Nepali Congress and the main opposition party, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist)Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist)
The Communist Party of Nepal , also known as CPN-UML, CPN, is one of the largest communist parties in Nepal. It was created on January 6, 1991 through the unification of the Communist Party of Nepal and the Communist Party of Nepal...
. The Nepali Congress called on voters to stick with their party and not to entrust power to a Communist party they accused of being irresponsible.
The Communist party called for land reform
Land reform
[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...
to break up large landholdings and give land to landless Nepalese peasants. Other pledges made by the party included running water
Tap water
Tap water is a principal component of "indoor plumbing", which became available in urban areas of the developed world during the last quarter of the 19th century, and common during the mid-20th century...
and electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
for all voters and for each village to have at least one television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. While the party called for foreign investment to be somewhat restricted and for privitisations to be limited, they also stressed that they believed in a mixed economy
Mixed economy
Mixed economy is an economic system in which both the state and private sector direct the economy, reflecting characteristics of both market economies and planned economies. Most mixed economies can be described as market economies with strong regulatory oversight, in addition to having a variety...
and did not support nationalisation. They accused the Nepali Congress government of having been incompetent and corrupt and said that a change in government was required.
On election day
Election Day (politics)
Election Day refers to the day when general elections are held. In many countries, general elections are always held on a Sunday, to enable as many voters as possible to participate, while in other countries elections are always held on a weekday...
itself there was some violence resulting in one death and another 15 people being injured. 124 international election monitors observed the election and new polls were ordered in 31 constituencies
Electoral district
An electoral district is a distinct territorial subdivision for holding a separate election for one or more seats in a legislative body...
where violence had occurred.
Election results
The results saw the Nepali Congress party lose their majority in parliament and the Communist party became the largest group in the House of Representatives. However no party won the 103 seats required for a majority on their own. The pro-monarchy party, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, made significant gains winning 20 seats up from the 4 they had won in the previous election. Voter turnoutVoter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...
was 58% a decline from the 60% who had voted in the previous election in 1991.
| Party | Leader | Candidates | Votes | Seats | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | +− | No. | % | +− % | No. | +− | ||
| Nepali Congress Nepali Congress The Nepali Congress is a Nepalese political party. Nepali Congress led the 1950 Democratic Movement which successfully ended the Rana dynasty and allowed commoners to take part in the polity. It again led a democratic movement in 1990, in partnership with leftist forces, to end monarchy and... |
Girija Prasad Koirala Girija Prasad Koirala Girija Prasad Koirala was a Nepalese politician and the President of the Nepali Congress, a major political party. He was Prime Minister of Nepal for four times, serving from 1991 to 1994, 1998 to 1999, 2000 to 2001, and from 2006 to 2008; he was also Acting Head of State from January 2007 to July... |
205 | +1 | 2,545,287 | 33.38 | -4.37 | 83 | -27 |
| Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) The Communist Party of Nepal , also known as CPN-UML, CPN, is one of the largest communist parties in Nepal. It was created on January 6, 1991 through the unification of the Communist Party of Nepal and the Communist Party of Nepal... |
Man Mohan Adhikari Man Mohan Adhikari Man Mohan Adhikari was the Prime Minister of Nepal from 1994 to 1995, representing the Communist Party of Nepal . He was the first democratically-elected Communist Party member to be PM in Nepal.... |
196 | +19 | 2,352,601 | 30.85 | +2.87 | 88 | +19 |
| Rashtriya Prajatantra Party Rashtriya Prajatantra Party The Rastriya Prajatantra Party is a Nepalese political party. It is a right-wing pro-monarchy party, formed out of the political elite of the erstwhile Panchayat system, formed on 1990, after reestablishment of democracy in Nepal.In 1997 RPP split after the faction led by pro-monarchy politician... |
Surya Bahadur Thapa Surya Bahadur Thapa Surya Bahadur Thapa has been Prime Minister of Nepal five times, under three different kings, in a political career lasting nearly 50 years. His terms were 1963-64, 1965–69, 1979–83, 1997–98 and 2003-04.... |
202 | * | 1,367,148 | 17.93 | +5.99 | 20 | +16 |
| Nepal Sadbhavana Party | Gajendra Narayan Singh Gajendra Narayan Singh Gajendra Narayan Singh is a Nepalese politician. He founded the Nepal Sadbhawana Party in 1985.-References:... |
86 | +11 | 265,847 | 3.49 | -0.61 | 3 | -3 |
| Sanyunkta Janamorcha Nepal | Nirmal Lama | 49 | -21 | 100,285 | 1.32 | -3.51 | 0 | -9 |
| Rashtriya Janamukti Party | Gore Bahadur Khapangi | 82 | - | 79,996 | 1.05 | - | 0 | - |
| Nepal Workers and Peasants Party | Narayan Man Bijukchhe Narayan Man Bijukchhe Narayan Man Bijukchhe is a Nepalese politician. Bijukchhe is the president of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party.Bijukchhe was born in Sukuldhoka, Nepal. He became a communist sympathizer after seeing the relief work of Communist Party of Nepal cadres during floods in Rautahat around 1954... |
27 | -3 | 75,072 | 0.98 | -0.27 | 4 | +2 |
| Nepal Janabadi Morcha Nepal Janabadi Morcha Nepal Janabadi Morcha is a leftwing political movement in Nepal. The group was founded in 1976, and worked clandestinely during the panchayat regime, and its chairman Ram Raja Prasad Singh lived in exile in India... |
Ram Raja Prasad Singh Ram Raja Prasad Singh Ram Raja Prasad Singh is a Nepalese politician. In July 2008, Singh was proposed by the Communist Party of Nepal as their candidate in the first presidential election in the country.... |
41 | - | 32,732 | 0.43 | - | 0 | - |
| Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist) Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist) (1991) Communist Party of Nepal was a Nepalese political party. It was formed on November 1, 1991 by a group of former leaders of the original Communist Party of Nepal that had been expelled from the Communist Party of Nepal... |
49 | - | 29,571 | 0.39 | - | 0 | - | |
| Communist Party of Nepal (United) Communist Party of Nepal (United) Communist Party of Nepal was a political party in Nepal. In 1991, after the first general election, through the merger of Communist Party of Nepal , Communist Party of Nepal and Communist Party of Nepal... |
Bishnu Bahadur Manandhar | 34 | - | 29,273 | 0.38 | - | 0 | - |
| Nepali Congress (Bisheswar) Party | 10 | - | 12,571 | 0.16 | - | 0 | - | |
| Rashtriya Janata Parishad | 28 | - | 8,931 | 0.13 | - | 0 | - | |
| Janabadi Morcha (Nepal) | 3 | -11 | 3,681 | 0.05 | +0.03 | 0 | +0 | |
| Prajatantrik Lokdal | 10 | - | 3,082 | 0.04 | - | 0 | - | |
| Nepal Praja Parishad | 7 | - | 1,832 | 0.02 | - | 0 | - | |
| Rashtriya Janata Party | 7 | -2 | 1,525 | 0.02 | -0.04 | 0 | +0 | |
| Nepali Congress (B.P.) | 2 | - | 840 | 0.01 | - | 0 | - | |
| Nepali Congress (Subarna) Nepali Congress (Subarna) Nepali Congress is a political party in Nepal. The party was formed in 1978, through a split in the Nepali Congress. At the time of the split, the Nepali Congress was led by Bakhan Singh Gurung and Surya Prasad Upadhyaya. The party was initially known as the '38 group'.The party contested the... |
4 | - | 484 | 0.01 | - | 0 | - | |
| Janata Dal (Sa. Pra.) | Keshar Jung Rayamjhi | 1 | -14 | 404 | 0.01 | -0.07 | 0 | +0 |
| Samyukta Prajatantra Party Samyukta Prajatantra Party Samyukta Prajatantra Party , a minor right-wing monarchist party in Nepal.... |
1 | - | 218 | 0.00 | - | 0 | - | |
| Nepal Janahit Party Nepal Janahit Party Nepal Janahit Party , a minor right-wing monarchist party in Nepal.... |
2 | - | 156 | 0.00 | - | 0 | - | |
| Radical Nepali Congress | 1 | - | 53 | 0.00 | - | 0 | - | |
| Liberal Democratic Party | 1 | - | 18 | 0.00 | - | 0 | - | |
| Independents | 385 | +166 | 471,324 | 6.18 | +2.01 | 7 | +4 | |
| Invalid votes | 241,071 | 3.16 | -1.26 | |||||
| Total: | 7,625,348 | 100 | 205 | |||||
Source: Election Commission of Nepal
Aftermath
Following the election the Communist party elected Man Mohan AdhikariMan Mohan Adhikari
Man Mohan Adhikari was the Prime Minister of Nepal from 1994 to 1995, representing the Communist Party of Nepal . He was the first democratically-elected Communist Party member to be PM in Nepal....
as leader of the party in parliament and he attempted to form a minority government. King Birendra asked both the Communists and the Nepali Congress party to explain to him why they should be allowed to form the government and then he would make a decision on who should be appointed Prime Minister. The Nepali Congress attempted to form a deal with smaller parties including the Rastriya Prajatantra Party in order to try to stay in power. However this was unsuccessful and Adhikari became Prime Minister at the head of a minority Communist government
Minority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...
. They therefore became the first elected communist government in a constitutional monarchy anywhere in the world and the first communist government in Asia to come into power democratically.