1. What is a Constituent Assembly Election?
Constituent Assembly is the apex body of representatives elected by eligible voters through direct voting system. A constituent assembly election means when the eligible citizens vote to elect their representatives from his/her constituency for the purpose of drafting a constitution of the country. The high level commission for the constituency delimitation was formed by the interim constitution of Nepal in 2007. The commission has completed their task of demarking areas throughout the nation in terms of population and geographical boundaries into 240 constituencies for the CA election.
The tenure of the Constitution Assembly will be for two years from the first meeting of the Assembly (article 64 of the Interim Constitution, 2007). The first meeting of the assembly should take place within 21 days after the election results (article 69). The Assembly can be dissolved before the stipulated time and such a decision can be taken by the Assembly itself (article 64). The Election System will be a combination of First-Past-the-Post and Proportional Representation (PR).
There will be 601 Assembly Members responsible to write the constitution of Nepal. 240 members will be elected from 240 constituencies on the basis of the highest vote win. 335 members will be elected by PR election system and 26 members will be selected from intellectuals from different walks of life by the interim government.
The Constitution Assembly will have two major roles:
- Write the Constitution
- Legislature power to administer the country until the election of the Members of Parliament.
2. What is the important decision of a Constituent Assembly?
The Constitution Assembly at the first meeting in course of writing the constitution will decide the future of Monarchy. This will be the first major decision by the Constituent Assembly in the history of Nepal. Such a decision of the Assembly will be decided by a simple majority among the members (article 159, sub article 3). The Assembly will also decide on the inclusiveness of the disadvantaged groups, Madhesi and Dalits into the mainstream of the government's mechanism. Interim Constitution of Nepal has already approved the federal system of government and the Assembly will decide on the procedures and type of federalism for a new Nepal.
3. Right to Free and Fair Elections
For an election to be free, citizens must have the right and opportunity to choose their leaders and representatives. Citizens must have freedom of movement, speech, expression and to form groups/associations. The political environment should be free of intimidation.
Participation by all, from all sectors, who are involved with the elections and performing their designated duties are very necessary to fulfill the process. The value for each individual vote counts and thus one should also be vigilant on issues that will bring betterment in the lives of all citizens.
For an election to be fair there must be an honest balloting and counting, administered without fraud and manipulation by impartial election authorities. Individuals and political parties must have an opportunity to contest for an election, and any election related grievances and disputes must be resolved promptly and justly before and after Election Day. Fairness also implies that misuse of public resources for campaigns must be avoided and all parties and candidates must have equal opportunities of communicating with their voters and winning their support including equitable access to the media.