Women's representation better in leadership, lower in number

Kathmandu, Jun 1: The number of women elected to the deputy chief positions has significantly decreased compared to the previous election held in 2017. However, the number of ladies elected in leading positions of the local units has slightly increased in this local level election. 

The recently held local poll showed a slight increase in the number of women elected in the chief positions, said Surya Prasad Aryal, Assistant Spokesperson of Election Commission (EC).

From the past local polls, 18 women (seven mayors and 11 chairpersons) were elected in chief positions, which was 2.39 per cent of the total local 753 local bodies.

But this time, 25 women (13 mayors and 12 chairpersons) have been elected in the chief positions, which is 3.32 per cent. Of them, 10 candidates are of main opposition CPN-UML, nine of the ruling Nepali Congress, four of CPN (Maoist Centre) and one each of CPN (Unified Socialist) and Loktantrik Samajwadi Party.

According to the EC, women are leading 25 local bodies, including one metropolitan city, one sub-metropolitan city, 11 municipalities and 12 rural municipalities.

Considering women leadership province-wise, women are now leading in key positions of six local bodies each of Province 1 and Bagmati Province, four local bodies of Madhes Province, three of Gandaki Province and two local bodies each of Lumbini, Karnali and Sudurpaschim Province.

In the last election, a total of 718 women were elected as deputy chiefs, which was 92.96 per cent of the total 753 seats. However, this time women representation in the deputy chief position has been limited to only 75.2 per cent, which is 17.67 percentage less than the past election.

The number has hugely decreased with only 566 women (232 deputy mayors and 335 vice-chairpersons) elected in 752 local bodies where the election process has concluded.

The re-election of one local body, Budiganga Municipality of Bajura, is left to be held and it is likely to elect one more woman in deputy-mayoral post.

Aryal said one more female is likely to be elected in deputy chief post because the major political parties, Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, have fielded candidacy of females for the position. In the last election, 48.8 per cent women were elected in chief and deputy chief positions. But this time their representation has been reduced by 9.5 per cent to only 39.30 per cent.

Aryal blamed political alliances of the major political parties for the significant reduction in women’s representation at the local level.

 Similarly, only 69 candidates have been elected as chairperson in 6,743 wards, which is only 1.03 per cent.

Article 38 (4) of the Constitution says that women will have the right to participate in all state bodies on the basis of the principle of proportional inclusion.

The Section 17 (4) of the Local Level Election Act-2017 makes it mandatory for a political party to field a woman as candidate for either chief or deputy chief at the local level. 

However, the same law says the provision is not applicable when a party fields a candidate for just one of the two positions.

Women rights activists blamed political parties for exploiting the loopholes in the law and fielding disproportionately more male candidates, which has hugely reduced women’s representation at the local level. 

As elections were fought under political alliance between the ruling coalition and opposition parties, the two executive positions in the majority of the local government were shared between alliance partners.

As a result, men have been elected in both chief and deputy chief positions in 159 local bodies.

Writing on her Facebook account, Kamala Parajuli, chairperson of National Women Commission, said, “This is a clear breach of Article 38 (4) of the Constitution. Despite the constitutional provisions and law, major political parties are not committed to ensuring their implementation.”