A PRACTITIONER’S GUIDE TO INCREASING WOMEN’S ACCESS TO ELECTORAL JUSTICE The Centre for Gender and Politics conducted a gender analysis of the May 2022 local elections, including sexdisaggregated data. According to its report, 36 percent of the candidates were women, with the Nepali Communist Party – United Marxist Leninists fielding the highest proportion of women candidates with 42 percent, followed closely by the Nepali Congress (41 percent), the Nepal Communist Party – Maoist Centre (40 percent) and the Nepal Communist Party – Unified Socialist (38 “There is representation, but not meaningful representation.” percent). An overwhelming majority of those candidates (87 percent) were –Election observer, Kathmandu contesting for seats as women ward members and Dalit women ward members – two types of reserved for women.156 Despite these relatively significant proportions, fewer women candidates contested in the 2022 elections than in the 2017 elections.157 While women were 36 percent of all candidates, they were elected to only 4 percent of mayor posts, 3 percent of chairs of rural municipalities and 1 percent of ward chairs. Most women were elected as deputy mayors or vice chairpersons, who are 78 percent women. Elections Management “Before an election, the Election Commission of Nepal (ECN) The Election Commission of Nepal (ECN) forms an election dispute resolution (EDR) committee administers elections in the country. The ECN is composed of eight members, including five members of the headquartered in Kathmandu and has offices in ECN; the secretary of the Ministry of Law, Justice and each of the 77 districts, including seven that also Parliamentary Affairs; the secretary of the Ministry of Home function as provincial election offices for each of Affairs; and the attorney general. Complaints regarding election Nepal’s seven provinces.158 Part 24 of Nepal’s disputes, violations or irregularities must be made in writing or 2015 Constitution details the functions, duties, electronic form to Returning officers or Name registering officers and or polling officers or monitoring officers, or directly to the EDR “conduct[ing], committee as soon as the alleged violation is known. Any control[ing]” any elections or national referenda. member of the EDR committee has the authority to determine The law also explicitly gives the ECN authority to the validity of the complaint and impose remedies and sanctions.” - powers of the ECN, supervis[ing], which include direct[ing] and make a final decision on the legitimacy of a candidate before the completion of the election. A IFES Election FAQs: Nepal 2022 House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly Elections slate of other electoral laws, including the Electoral Roll Act, the Election Offense and Punishment Act, the Political Party Act, and the Local Level Election Act, were passed in 2017. The Political Party Act gives the ECN the responsibility for resolving disputes between political parties related to party names; party seals, statutes, flags or symbols; or the authenticity of party officials. It also gives the ECN authority to fine a party or prohibit it from participating in an election if it violates the law. The Political Party Act also mandates that party committees at all levels should include at least 33 percent women. 156 Neelam, Shrestha, and Giri. (2022). “There were altogether 17,733,723 voters including 8,741,530 women, 8,992,010 men and 183 others. In terms of women representation, this time there were lesser number of women candidates for positions of deputy mayor or vice chairperson compared to previous election. There were more women candidates for positions of mayor or chairperson. Similarly, at ward level, the number of women candidates were comparatively more in ward level. Out of the total 35,221 positions, there were 145,013 candidates in the field. The people elected 14,445 women including 25 as mayor/chairperson, 567 as deputy mayor/vice chairperson, 69 as ward chairperson, 442 as members, as well as 6,732 elected in reserved positions for women members and 6,610 elected in reserved positions for Dalit women members. Apart from the results in the Budhiganga municipality, 41 percent of the elected representatives were women. In 6,733 wards, a total of 6,610 Dalit women members were elected. In 123 wards, there were no Dalit woman candidate.” See: Asian Network for Free Elections. (2022, July 20). General Election Observation Committee - GEOC/Nepal Law Society. 158 There are 77 districts in Nepal; in seven, the district ECN offices serve also as the provincial ECN office. Therefore, there are 77 ECN offices across all 77 districts. Technically. seven of those offices are referred to as provincial election offices; and the remaining 70 are called district election offices. 157 58