March 9: Senior leader of the Nepali Congress Ram Chandra Poudel has been elected as the new president of Nepal on Thursday.

Poudel, a common candidate of the nine-party alliance, received 33,802 votes from the electoral college of 882 voters representing the Federal Parliament and the provincial assemblies.

The NC candidate secured majority votes to defeat CPN-UML candidate Subas Nembang to the coveted post.

Paudel has become the third president of Nepal after the country adopted federalism following the 2006 people’s movement. Ram Baran Yadav was elected the first president of Nepal while his successor Bidya Devi Bhandari, the outgoing president, assumed the ceremonial role for two terms.

Poudel was proposed for the presidential candidate by NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairperson Madhav Kumar Nepal, CPN (Maoist Centre) Senior Vice-Chairperson Narayankaji Shrestha, Janata Samajwadi Party leader Ashok Kumar Rai and Abdul Khan of the Janamat Party.   

Likewise, Poudel's candidacy for the presidential bid was seconded by Chairperson of Lokatantrik Samajwadi Party Nepal, Mahantha Thakur; Vice-President of Nepali Congress, Purna Bahadur Khadka; Chairperson of Nagarik Unmukti Party, Ranjita Shrestha; Chairman of Rastriya Janamorcha, Chitra Bahadur KC; and Chief Whip of CPN (Maoist Centre), Hitraj Pandey.

President Poudel was elected a Member of the House of Representatives from Tanahu-1 in the November 20 election last year.

He was also elected as the member of parliament from Tanahu in 2048 BS, 2051 BS, 2056 BS, 2064 BS and 2070 BS.

Poudel had already served as the deputy prime minister and minister for home affairs and led the Ministry of Local Development, Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Communications and Information in the past. 

He has also served as the Speaker of the HoR.

Born in 2001 BS at Bahunpokhara of Risti Rural Municipality in Tanahu district, Poudel forayed into politics at the age of 16.   

He is the founding member of the Nepal Student Union, which was established in 2027 BS and was elected to the central committee member of the party for the first time in 2034 BS.   

Similarly, Poudel became the vice-president and acting president of the party. He was also awarded with the 'Order of the Rising Sun (2020)' presented by the government of Japan.   

He has written dozens of books and published seminal articles on contemporary issues.

Nine political parties, including Nepali Congress – the largest party in the House of Representatives, CPN (Maoist Centre) and CPN (Unified Socialist) backed Paudel’s bid to become the new president. The other parties voting for Paudel include Janata Samajwadi Party Nepal, Loktantrik Samajwadi Party Nepal, Janamat Party, Nagarik Unmukti Party, Rastriya Janamorcha and Nepal Samajwadi Party.

Voting

The voting for the presidential election was held at the Parliament Building at New Baneshwar from at 10 am to 3 pm this afternoon, said assistant returning officer Amrita Kumari Sharma.   

Eligible voters

The electoral college comprising of the members of the Federal Parliament and provincial assemblies cast their votes to elect the president. There were a total of 882 eligible voters in the Federal Parliament and the seven provincial assemblies. Among them, 332 belonged to the Federal Parliament (the House of Representatives and the National Assembly) and 550 under the provincial assemblies.

But only 313 members of the federal parliament and 518 members of the provincial assemblies cast their votes during the presidential election. 

Paudel received  votes from 214 lawmakers of the Federal Parliament and 352 provincial assembly members.  

Who did not vote?

Fifteen federal parliament members including 14 of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and one from the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP) remained neutral and did not vote for any of the two candidates.    

Likewise, six federal parliament lawmakers did not take part in the voting due to various other reasons. They are Chandra Bhandari who is undergoing health treatment in India, Barshaman Pun who is under medical treatment in China, Laxmi Koiri who has a court case against him, Tek Bahadur Gurung who has been suspended, Rabi Lamichhane whose parliamentary seat has fallen vacant after his removal from the post and Sahanaz Rahman who passed away.   

Weightage of vote

The vote of a Federal Parliament MP has the weight of 79 votes, and that of Province Assembly member is 48.

Based on this, the total vote share of 332 MPs of the Federal Parliament (the position of one MP has been vacant) is 26,228 and the total number of votes of the members of the provincial assembly is 26,400. That makes the total number of votes in the presidential election 52,628.

On this basis, more than 26,314 votes were required to be elected as the president.

Ceremonial Role

According to the Constitution of Nepal, the president has a ceremonial role and is entrusted with the responsibility to protect and abide by the constitution. The country adopted the presidential system following the establishment of republic through the People’s Movement of 2006.

According to the constitution, no person shall be elected to the Office of President more than twice.