Elections for a Constituent Assembly will be held in Nepal on 20 June 2007.[1] This assembly will draft a new constitution and will therefore also decide on the fate of the Nepalese monarchy. There will be around 17.5 million eligible voters.[2] The Election Constituency Delimitation Commission recommended the following number and distribution of seats: 204 members would be elected through a proportionate electoral system, 240 members through election in constituencies (116 seats for southern Nepal’s Terai region and 124 members from the mountainous region) and 17 on recommendation by the Council of Ministers.[3] [4] It is likely that the election will be postponed, as the Election Commission fears that the time is insufficient to adequately prepare the election.[5]
The following parties are among the 62 parties which have registered to contest the election in the period from 31 March 2007 to 27 April 2007:[6]
- Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML)[7]
- Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN-M)[8]
- Janamukti Party
- Nepal Goodwill Party
- Nepali Congress
- Nepali Congress (Democratic)[9]
- Rashtriya Prajatantra Party
- Samajbadi Party[10]
Nepali Congress and Nepali Congress (Democratic) will merge prior to the elections.
