KATHMANDU, Feb 3: Tightening rules on political party splits, the Election Commission (EC) has reinstated the earlier provision requiring 40 per cent support in both the central committee and the parliamentary party to break away and form a new party.
The EC has issued the Political Parties (Split) Regulations, 2082 BS, which have been published in the Nepal Gazette. With the publication of the notice, the new regulations have automatically repealed the existing ones, the EC said.
The move reverses an earlier, more lenient provision that had lowered the threshold to 20 percent in each body, making party splits easier. The EC has now restored the stricter 40/40 requirement.
I will never split the party: Chairman Thapa
In 2078 BS, the then government had introduced an ordinance amending the party-split provisions, reducing the requirement from 40 percent to 20 percent in both the central committee and the parliamentary party. However, the ordinance failed to secure parliamentary approval and was subsequently scrapped.
Despite the ordinance being revoked, the EC had not revised the related regulations at the time. This time, however, the EC has amended the regulations and formally notified the change through the Gazette.
“After the ordinance was introduced, the Election Commission amended the Political Parties Regulations to align with it, setting the requirement at 20 percent in both bodies. Later, the ordinance was scrapped, but the regulations were not revised,” EC spokesperson Narayan Bhattarai said. “That gap has now been addressed, and the 40 percent threshold has been reinstated.”
According to Bhattarai, the revised regulations significantly raise the bar for party splits. Any faction seeking to break away from an existing party and register a new one must now secure at least 40 percent representation in both the central committee and the parliamentary party.
The amendment is expected to discourage frequent breakaways by small factions and curb the trend of forming new parties over internal disagreements.
The Gazette notice further clarifies that the term central committee refers to the entire central committee, rather than only the committee elected by the party’s general convention, as was previously interpreted.
With the revised provision in place, splitting a political party is set to become far more difficult.
