2022 Nepalese general election

2022 Nepalese general election

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All 275 seats in the House of Representatives 138 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	17,988,570
Turnout	61.85% ( 6.78pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Sher Bahadur Deuba K. P. Sharma Oli Pushpa Kamal Dahal Party Congress CPN (UML) Maoist Centre Last election 32.78%, 63 seats 33.25%, 121 seats 13.66%, 53 seats Seats won 89 78 32 Seat change 26 43 21 Popular vote 2,715,225 2,845,641 1,175,684 Percentage 25.71% 26.95% 11.13% Swing 7.07pp 6.30pp 2.53pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Rabi Lamichhane Rajendra Lingden Upendra Yadav Party RSP RPP People's Socialist Party, Nepal (2020) Last election 2.06%, 1 seat at Tanahu 2.06%, 1 seat Merger of parties Seats won 20 14 12 Seat change New 13 New Popular vote 1,130,344 588,849 421,313 Percentage 10.70% 5.58% 3.99% Swing New 3.52pp New   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   Leader Madhav Kumar Nepal CK Raut Mahantha Thakur Party Unified Socialist Janamat Loktantrik Samajwadi Last election – – – Seats won 10 6 4 Seat change New New New Popular vote 298,391 394,655 167,367 Percentage 2.83% 3.74% 1.58% Swing New New New
MPs elected in constituency seats by party
Prime Minister before election Sher Bahadur Deuba Congress Prime Minister after election Pushpa Kamal Dahal Maoist Centre

General elections were held in Nepal on 20 November 2022 to elect the 275 members of the House of Representatives.^[2] There were two ballots in the election; one to elect 165 members from single-member constituencies via FPTP, and the other to elect the remaining 110 members from a single nation-wide constituency via party-list proportional representation.

The election was held alongside provincial elections for the seven provincial assemblies.

After power sharing talks between the outgoing Democratic Left Alliance broke down on 25 December 2022, CPN (Maoist Centre) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal became prime minister, its eight-member cabinet consisting of MPs from his party, CPN (UML), Rastriya Swatantra Party and Janamat Party, with the confidence and supply of RPP, JSP, NUP and three independents.

The fifth House of Representatives elected in 2017 had a five-year term ending in March 2023. In May 2018, the CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) and CPN (Maoist Centre) parties merged to form the Nepal Communist Party. The merger between the two coalition partners took their total strength in the House of Representatives to 174. The leaders of the two parties had an agreement to share the post of Prime Minister with the CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) chairman KP Sharma Oli handing over the post to Maoist Centre chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal after two and a half years. On 20 November 2019, the two leaders agreed to let Oli complete his full term as prime minister.^[3] In a secretariat meeting of the Nepal Communist Party on 14 November 2020, Dahal presented a political document which accused Oli not following party orders and being individualistic.^[4] In response to Dahal, Oli rejected Dahal's accusations and presented his own political document which accused Dahal of not letting Oli run the government.^[5] As the strife within the party continued, Oli requested President Bidhya Devi Bhandari to dissolve the House of Representatives on 20 December 2020 as a no-confidence motion was being prepared against him.^[6][7][8] In protest of the decision by Oli, seven ministers of the cabinet resigned.^[9][10]

The House was reinstated on 23 February 2021 but on 7 March 2021, deciding on a separate writ, the Supreme Court annulled the decision of the Election Commission to grant the name Nepal Communist Party to the party created by merger of the CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) and CPN (Maoist Centre), and positioned them to their pre merger status.^[11] The CPN (Maoist Centre) withdrew its support from the government on 5 May 2021 and Oli failed to obtain a vote of confidence while a faction of his own party boycotted the vote.^[12]

On 13 May 2021, Oli was appointed minority prime minister as the leader of the party in parliament with the highest seats.^[13] Rather than retake a vote of confidence, Oli started the process of formation of government through provision of Article 76(5), which was challenged in the Supreme Court. Sher Bahadur Deuba claimed signed support of 149 MPs, including 26 from the CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) and 13 from the People's Socialist Party, Nepal.^[14][15] Oli claimed support of all MPs of the CPN (UML) and the People's Socialist Party, Nepal.^[16] President Bhandari decided on 22 May 2021 that both claims were inadequate and announced the dissolution of House, leading to widespread opposition.^{[17][18][19][20]} On 12 July 2021, the Supreme Court ruled the dissolution of parliament invalid, while ordering the appointment of Deuba as prime minister, as per article 76(5), by submitting 149 signatures to the President, which is a majority of 271 members present in the House.^[21]

A cabinet decision on 4 August 2022 decided on holding the next general election on 20 November 2022.^[22][23] The house was finally dissolved on 18 September 2022 after the completion of its five-year term.^[24][25]

The key dates are listed below:

The 275 members of the legislature are elected by two methods; 165 are elected from single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting and 110 seats are elected by closed list proportional representation from a single nationwide constituency.^[29] Voters receive separate ballot papers for the two methods. A party or electoral alliance has to pass the election threshold of 3% of the overall valid vote to be allocated a seat in the proportional vote.^[30] Nepal uses the Sainte-Laguë method to allocate proportional seats.^[31]

Voting is limited to Nepali citizens aged 18 or over of sound mind and not having been declared ineligible under federal election fraud and punishment laws.^[32]

To vote in the general election, one must be:^[32]

• on the electoral roll
• aged 18 or over on 19 December 2022
• a citizen of Nepal
• of sound mind
• not ineligible as per federal election fraud and punishment laws

The coalition government of Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Centre), CPN (Unified Socialist), People's Socialist Party and Rastriya Janamorcha decided to form an alliance to contest the parliamentary elections on 5 August 2022.^[33][34] Later on August 15, Nepal Socialist Party led by former prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai decided to contest the election under the election symbol and manifesto of CPN (Maoist Centre).^[35] On October 9, on the deadline of the candidate nominations, People's Socialist Party broke away from the alliance and the alliance decided to support Loktantrik Samajwadi Party in 7 seats.^[36][37] The alliance also supported Ghanashyam Bhusal in Rupandehi 1 and Prabhu Sah in Rautahat 3 who ran as dissident candidates from CPN (UML) from seats allotted to CPN (Maoist Centre).^[38][39][40] After the candidacy of Raju Gurung of Unified Socialist was scrapped by the Election Commission, the alliance decided to support Rastriya Janamukti Party candidate Keshav Bahadur Thapa in Rupandehi 2. Rastriya Janamorcha however decided to support the candidate from Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party.^[41]

Party		Symbol	Leader	Leader's Seat	Seats contested	Male candidates	Female candidates
1.	Nepali Congress		Sher Bahadur Deuba	Dadeldhura 1	91[42]	86	5
2.	Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre)		Pushpa Kamal Dahal	Gorkha 2	46[a]	38	8
3.	Nepal Socialist Party[43]		Baburam Bhattarai	None[44]
4.	Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Socialist)		Madhav Kumar Nepal	Rautahat 1	20	19	1
5.	Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, Nepal		Mahantha Thakur	Mahottari 3	51[b]	48	3
6.	Rastriya Janamorcha		Chitra Bahadur K.C.	Baglung 1	2	1	1
Total					165	152	13

CPN (UML) decided to support People's Socialist Party in 7 seats on 9 October 2022.^[36] The CPN (UML) also decided to support Rastriya Prajtantra Party candidates in Jhapa 5, Rupandehi 1 and Banke 2 and decided to field Rastriya Prajtantra Party Nepal chairman Kamal Thapa in Makwanpur 1 under their election symbol.^[38] The party also supported dissident candidate from Nepali Congress, Dinesh Koirala in Chitwan 3, Karna Bahadur Malla of Nepali Congress (B.P.) in Dadeldhura 1 and Hridayesh Tripathi of the People's Progressive Party in Parasi 1.^[40]

Party[45][46]		Symbol	Leader	Leader's Seat	Seats contested	Male candidates	Female candidates
1.	Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist)		KP Sharma Oli	Jhapa 5	141	130	11
2.	Nepal Pariwar Dal		Ek Nath Dhakal	Party list[47]
4.	People's Socialist Party, Nepal		Upendra Yadav	Saptari 2	79[c]	72	7
Total					158	147	11

Party		Symbol	Leader	Leader's Seat	Seats contested	Male candidates	Female candidates
	Rastriya Prajatantra Party		Rajendra Prasad Lingden	Jhapa 3	140	132	8
	Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal		Kamal Thapa	Makawanpur 1[d]	58	52	6
	Rastriya Swatantra Party		Rabi Lamichhane	Chitwan 2	131[48]	119	12
	Nepal Workers' and Peasants' Party		Narayan Man Bijukchhe	None[49]	109	97	12
	Janamat Party		C. K. Raut	Saptari 2	54	52	2
	Nagarik Unmukti Party		Ranjeeta Shrestha	Kailali 1	30	27	3
	People's Progressive Party		Hridayesh Tripathi	Parasi 1	15	14	1
	Bibeksheel Sajha Party		Samikchya Baskota	None	7	7	0
	Nepal Sushasan Party		Ramesh Prasad Kharel[citation needed]	Kathmandu 1	9	8	1
	Nepal Naulo Janbadi Party		Ganga Lal Shrestha	Kavrepalanchok 2	1	1	0
	Nepal Aama Party		Rom Lal Giri	Party list	9	6	3
	Sachet Nepali Party		Punya Prasad Prasain	Kathmandu 2	7	7	0
	Terai Madhesh Loktantrik Party		Brikhesh Chandra Lal	Mahottari 3	2	2	0
	Hamro Nepali Party		Anant Raj Ghimire	Party list	62	58	4

CPN (UML)

Nepali Congress

CPN (Maoist Centre)

CPN (Unified Socialist)

source:^[50]

Party		Party list			Constituency			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist)	2,845,641	26.95	34	3,233,567	30.83	44	78	–43
	Nepali Congress	2,715,225	25.71	32	2,431,907	23.19	57	89	+26
	Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre)—Nepal Socialist Party[57]	1,175,684	11.13	14	982,826	9.37	18	32	–21
	Rastriya Swatantra Party	1,130,344	10.70	13	815,023	7.77	7	20	New
	Rastriya Prajatantra Party	588,849	5.58	7	549,340	5.24	7	14	+13
	People's Socialist Party, Nepal	421,314	3.99	5	379,337	3.62	7	12	–22
	Janamat Party	394,655	3.74	5	292,554	2.79	1	6	New
	Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Socialist)	298,391	2.83	0	436,020	4.16	10	10	New
	Nagrik Unmukti Party	271,722	2.57	0	172,205	1.64	3	3	New
	Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, Nepal	167,367	1.58	0	169,692	1.62	4	4	New
	Nepal Workers Peasants Party	75,168	0.71	0	71,567	0.68	1	1	0
	Hamro Nepali Party	55,743	0.53	0	57,077	0.54	0	0	New
	Mongol National Organisation	49,000	0.46	0	42,892	0.41	0	0	0
	Rastriya Janamorcha	46,504	0.44	0	57,278	0.55	1	1	0
	Nepal Federal Socialist Party	41,830	0.40	0	7,172	0.07	0	0	0
	Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist–Leninist)	30,599	0.29	0	18,716	0.18	0	0	0
	Rastriya Janamukti Party	23,934	0.23	0	34,012	0.32	0	0	0
	People's Progressive Party	18,059	0.17	0	37,511	0.36	0	0	New
	Nepal Naulo Janwadi Party―Nepal Aama Party―Nepal Sushashan Party―Sachet Nepali Party	17,902	0.17	0	18,495	0.18	0	0	New
	Sanghiya Loktantrik Rastriya Manch	17,805	0.17	0	11,488	0.11	0	0	0
	Bahujan Ekata Party Nepal	17,080	0.16	0	7,274	0.07	0	0	New
	Nepali Congress (B.P.)	12,502	0.12	0	13,123	0.13	0	0	0
	Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal	12,340	0.12	0	10,087	0.10	0	0	New
	Nepali Janata Dal	10,137	0.10	0	1,654	0.02	0	0	0
	Bahujan Shakti Party	9,435	0.09	0	6,710	0.06	0	0	0
	Nepalka Lagi Nepali Party	8,436	0.08	0	3,893	0.04	0	0	New
	Nepal Communist Party	8,013	0.08	0	313	0.00	0	0	New
	Nepal Loktantrik Party	7,705	0.07	0	3,842	0.04	0	0	New
	Nepal Janata Party	7,518	0.07	0	2,269	0.02	0	0	New
	Communist Party of Nepal Marxist (Pushpa Lal)	7,402	0.07	0	1,760	0.02	0	0	New
	Miteri Party Nepal	7,043	0.07	0	22	0.00	0	0	New
	Janajagaran Party Nepal	6,550	0.06	0	324	0.00	0	0	New
	Aamul Pariwartan Masiha Party Nepal	6,429	0.06	0	1,366	0.01	0	0	0
	Terai Madhesh Loktantrik Party	5,977	0.06	0	12,203	0.12	0	0	New
	Janasamajbadi Party	5,925	0.06	0	3,030	0.03	0	0	0
	Nepal Dalit Party―Samajik Ekata Party―Communist Party of Nepal (Socialist)	5,839	0.06	0	478	0.00	0	0	New
	Pichhadibarga Nishad Dalit Janajati Party	5,105	0.05	0	379	0.00	0	0	New
	Bibeksheel Sajha Party	4,049	0.04	0	2,446	0.02	0	0	0
	Ekikrit Shakti Nepal	3,792	0.04	0	3,026	0.03	0	0	New
	Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Socialist)	3,702	0.04	0	766	0.01	0	0	New
	Sanghiya Loktantrik Rastriya Manch (Tharuhat)	3,406	0.03	0	293	0.00	0	0	0
	Rastriya Mukti Andolan Nepal	3,354	0.03	0			0	0	0
	Maulik Jarokilo Party	3,256	0.03	0	2,416	0.02	0	0	New
	Nepal Samabeshi Party	2,963	0.03	0			0	0	0
	Communist Party of Nepal (Paribartan)	2,220	0.02	0	364	0.00	0	0	New
	Rastriya Nagarik Party	2,150	0.02	0	149	0.00	0	0	0
	Nationalist People's Party	2,018	0.02	0	1,768	0.02	0	0	New
	Sajha Party Nepal				2,327	0.02	0	0	New
	Nepal Sadbhawana Party				660	0.01	0	0	New
	Nepal Bibeksheel Party				379	0.00	0	0	New
	Aitihasik Prajatantrik Janata Party Nepal				359	0.00	0	0	New
	Kirat Khambhuwan Sajha Party				278	0.00	0	0	New
	Khambuwan Rastriya Morcha Nepal				162	0.00	0	0	New
	Punarjagarn Party Nepal				141	0.00	0	0	New
	Nepalbad				131	0.00	0	0	0
	Tamangsaling Loktantrik Party				85	0.00	0	0	0
	Gandhibadi Party Nepal				60	0.00	0	–	New
	Rastriya Samajwadi Party Nepal				60	0.00	0	0	0
	Samajik Loktantrik Party				56	0.00	0	0	New
	Independents				584,629	5.57	5	5	+4
Total		10,560,082	100.00	110	10,487,961	100.00	165	275	0
Valid votes		10,560,082	94.91		10,487,961	94.94
Invalid/blank votes		566,144	5.09		559,076	5.06
Total votes		11,126,226	100.00		11,047,037	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		17,988,570	61.85		17,988,570	61.41
Source: Election Commission Nepal [58] [1]; [citation needed]

Results of party list vote by province Results of party list vote by district Results of party list vote by constituency

• Jhala Nath Khanal – Ilam 1 (CPN (Unified Socialist))

• Bal Krishna Khand – Rupandehi 3 (Nepali Congress)
• Pampha Bhusal – Lalitpur 3 (CPN (Maoist Centre))
• Umakant Chaudhary – Bara 1 (Nepali Congress)
• Maheshwar Jung Gahatraj – Banke 1 (CPN (Maoist Centre))
• Jeevan Ram Shrestha – Kathmandu 8 (CPN (Unified Socialist))

• Umesh Shrestha – Chitwan 2 (Nepali Congress)

• Sherdhan Rai – Bhojpur 1 (CPN (UML))
• Shankar Pokharel – Dang 2 (CPN (UML))

There were 12 political parties that were represented at the House of Representatives following the election. Only seven parties met the three percent threshold set in proportional voting to become national parties.^[59]

Nepali Congress emerged as the largest party after the elections winning 89 seats. The Democratic Left Alliance won 136 seats at the election but failed to get a majority by two seats. The alliance were in talks with Janamat Party and Nagrik Unmukti Party in order to gain a majority in the House of Representatives.^[60][61]

CPN (UML) won 78 seats at the election and was the second largest party in the House of Representatives. The party however got the most votes in the party list proportional system.^[62]

President Bidya Devi Bhandari called on the parties to form a government on 19 December 2022, after the final results of the election were presented to her by the Election Commission.^[63] Pashupati Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, as the senior-most member of the new House of Representatives, was sworn in on 21 December 2022 by the president.^[64] He administered the oath of office to the newly elected members of the House of Representatives on 22 December 2022.^[65]

After power sharing talks between the Democratic Alliance broke down on 25 December 2022, CPN (Maoist Centre) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal presented his claim for the post of prime minister with the support of CPN (UML), Rastriya Swatantra Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, People's Socialist Party, Janamat Party, Nagrik Unmukti Party and three independents.^[66] Dahal was sworn in as prime minister for the third time the next day with an eight-member cabinet consisting of MPs from his party, CPN (UML), Rastriya Swatantra Party and Janamat Party, with the confidence and supply of RPP, PSP, NUP and three independents.^[67]

The inaugural session was scheduled for 9 January 2023.^[68] Dahal secured a vote of confidence on 10 January 2023 with 268 votes in his favor and only two MPs from Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party and Rastriya Janamorcha voting against him.^[69]

The CPN (UML) withdrew from the coalition on 27 February 2023, citing Dahal's decision to back an opposition candidate supported by the Nepali Congress in the upcoming presidential election.^[70] Dahal had announced this in order to gain the support of NC in the legislature. A vote of confidence is due within 30 days of the loss of a legislative majority.^[71] The Rastriya Prajatantra Party had withdrawn support days prior due to the same issue.^[72] The Rastriya Swatantra Party had also previously withdrawn its ministers from the government,^[73] although remained supportive under a confidence-and-supply agreement.

• 2022 Nepalese National Assembly election
• 2022 Nepalese provincial elections
• 2022 Nepalese local elections
• 2021 split in Nepalese communist parties
• 2021 split in the People's Socialist Party, Nepal
• 2022 Madhesh Provincial Assembly election

• प्रतिनिधि सभा समानुपातिक निर्वाचन प्रणाली तर्फ निर्वाचित सदस्यहरुको विवरण (Report of members elected to the House of Representatives via proportional voting) (in Nepali)