CEPPS Quarterly Report: July 1, 2012 to September 30, 2012

The country is drafting a new constitution and solidifying peace after a decade-long civil war. Major political stakeholders anticipate that the drafting process will lay out a new federal government structure more representative than the current centralized system. However, the country's political environment has become increasingly unstable, and the constitution drafting process has been slow. The poor performance of political parties and the lack of consensus within parliament have fed the loss of public confidence in multi-party politics. The politics of this reporting period have been dominated by the failure to promulgate a draft constitution by the May 27 deadline. The remaining differences on the federalist structure appeared to be resolvable within a relatively short period of time, but the agreement was almost certain to be unacceptable to one or other of the activist groups promoting incompatible forms of federalism. Shortly before midnight on May 27, PM Bhattarai unilaterally dissolved the CA and called for fresh CA elections for November 22 2012, surprising the entire country. Effective public participation in the election will be critical in determining the government that is formed in its wake and the future of country's political stability. The CEPPS partners have identified several challenges that will be addressed through this program. These challenges include organizational weaknesses and poor governance records of Nepali political parties, which have led to a loss of public confidence in a multiparty system of democracy. Political parties lack internal democratic practices, transparent resource mobilization, and the institutional ability to formulate policy solutions and engage constituents and non-governmental stakeholders in public policy discussions. Additionally, there is an underdeveloped culture within civil society and the media of monitoring the activities of political parties. The program aims to strengthen political parties, electoral, and legislative processes in Nepal. To achieve this, IFES and NDI will work to ensure that Nepal develops a body of legislation on the electoral process that is comprehensive, coherent, and consistent. They will also improve the capacity of the Election Commission of Nepal (ECN) to manage future elections and consolidate its mandate and performance. Furthermore, they will expand and improve the delivery of voter education by working with the ECN and selected non-governmental organizations to plan, develop, and implement effective voter education programs.