Politics
Nepal in a Nutshell
- Nepal is governed according to the Constitution of Nepal, which came into effect on 20th September 2015. The Constitution is the fundamental law of Nepal. It defines Nepal as having multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious, multi-cultural characteristics with common aspirations of people living in diverse geographical regions, and being committed to and united by a bond of allegiance to national independence, territorial integrity, national interest and prosperity of Nepal. All the Nepali people collectively constitute the nation.
- Currently there exist 25 parties in the Constitutional Assembly of Nepal. The biggest party is the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) with 229 seats. They rely on Mao Zedong and the peruanic Guerilla organization. Second biggest is the social democratic Congress Party of Nepal with 115 seats, founded 1950. Third is the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) with 108 seats, founded 1991.
- Bhidya Devi Bhandari is the first female president of the democratic republic of Nepal since 2015 and Pushpa Kamal Dahal is Prime Minister since the 3rd August 2016.
- The Constitution of Nepal has defined three organs of the government:
o Executive, Legislative and Judiciary - As of 20 September 2015, Nepal is divided into 7 states and 75 districts. It has 744 local units. There are 4 metropolises, 13 sub-metropolises, 246 municipal councils and 481 village councils for official works. The constitution grants 22 absolute powers to the local units while they share 15 more powers with the central and state governments.
- All Nepali Citizens 18 years and older are eligible to vote.