Understanding the Samanupatik Voting System
In every provincial and national assembly election, we are presented with two voting papers for each of the levels. Through one of the voting papers, we directly vote for a candidate we have chosen, whereas through another voting paper we vote for a party. This type of voting where we vote for a party and then the party chooses its candidates is called the samanupatik (proportional) voting system. In this article, we will try to understand how the samanupatik voting system works in Nepal, what it is, and when it was introduced, and will also look at the process of how votes received by parties are converted into parliamentary seats.
How the samanupatik system was introduced
Samanupatik voting system was first introduced in Nepal in the elections of 2064 B.S. The constitutions before that had a provision for the First Past the Post voting system only, through which people directly chose one of the candidates of their region. This changed after the People’s Movement in 2062/63 when the governing power of the nation came to the political parties from the King, and they were themselves responsible for conducting an election of the constitutional assembly to make a new constitution. The eight major parties discussed the electoral model for this and concluded on conducting the election of 2064 B.S. in a mixed model which included both the Pratakshya (First Past the Post) system and the samanupatik system. The samanupatik system was introduced in order to ensure the equal participation of marginal and backward communities in the constitutional assembly. During this process of the decision of the electoral model, however, some parties including the CPN-Maoist came down to the streets with the demand for a total samanupatik system, without the use of the pratakshya system. Several strikes were held by these parties and even the election date had to be shifted because of it. But at last, overseeing the risk to democracy because of the delay in the election, all parties came to an agreement and a decision was made that the constituent assembly will be formed with 240 members elected from the pratakshya voting system and 335 from the samanupatik system. The thus-elected constitutional assembly made a new constitution in 2072 B.S., which included an arrangement of a total of 275 members in the national parliament in which 60% of the members should be elected from the pratakshya voting system and the remaining through samanupatik.
The Process
Through this arrangement in the constitution of 2072 B.S., the election commission begins the process of samanupatik voting by calling the political parties to register for the upcoming election. On the basis of this registration, respective symbols of the parties are printed on the ballot paper which is distributed in all election centers all over the country. Another thing the political parties must submit before the election is- a closed list of the names of their candidates for the samanupatik election. A closed list refers to a list that cannot be changed after the submission. The order in which the names are presented should also be followed as far as possible.
When the election is completed and the voting counts all over the country also finish, the election commission presents the calculations of total valid samanupatik votes and the votes received by each political party participating in the system. If any of the parties are not able to get 3 percent of the total valid samanupatik vote, it is disqualified from the system. This 3 percent is known as the threshold. Even if a political party gains 2.9 percent of the votes, failure to meet the threshold results in the party getting no seats at all. The votes the ineligible parties receive are subtracted from the total votes, and 110 of the samanupatik seats are distributed to the eligible parties.
How are the samanupatik votes converted into seats?
The distribution of seats is also not easy. Simple mathematical division results in fractions, which is problematic as the seats cannot be fractioned. Therefore to convert the vote received by political parties into seats, a mathematical model called Sainte-Laguë is used. This model was developed by a French mathematician, Andrea Sainte-Laguë for the very purpose of distributing seats in parliament. For this, the formula below is used, where V means the total number of votes. The election commission uses computer software for the purpose of this calculation and derives the number of samanupatik seats each political party has won.
After the number of seats is fixed, political parties present the final name of candidates based on the previously closed list they had submitted to the election commission. Another complexity comes during this, as the percentage of candidates decided for each inclusive group must be met in the name list submitted by the political parties. Based on the final list submitted, the election commission declares the names of persons who receive the samanupatik seat, and this is made official once the commission submits the list to the President.
