Commission recommends 4-year bicameral parliament

The Constitution Reform Commission has recommended formation of a bicameral parliament with a lower house named the National Assembly and an upper house named the Senate.

The Senate shall have a total of 105 seats and the National Assembly shall have a total of 400 seats, according to the commission's recommendations submitted to the chief adviser today (15 January). Both houses shall have a term of four years, reads the commission's report.

4 reform commissions submit reports to CA

Why it matters? 

The interim government has often brought up that the country had been in the grip of fascism for the past 15 years, with democratic institutions dismantled in a bid to establish authoritarian rule. The present constitution has also helped in this dismantling and thus needs changes. 

What are the recommendations? 

• Of the 400 members of the National Assembly, 300 members shall be directly elected from single regional constituencies.
• Another 100 women members shall be elected from all districts of the country from 100 constituencies designated for this purpose through direct elections among only women candidates 
• Political parties shall nominate candidates from the youth for at least 10% of the total seats in the lower house 
• The minimum age for contesting in the National Assembly elections shall be reduced to 21 years 
• Of the 105 members of the Senate, 100 members shall be determined in proportion to the total number of votes cast in the National Assembly elections 
• Political parties may nominate a maximum of 100 candidates for nomination in the upper house on the basis of Proportional Representation (PR) system 
• The President shall fill the remaining five seats in the Senate by nominating candidates among the citizens who are not members of any chamber or any political party

Other recommendations include:

• There shall be two deputy speakers in the lower house, one of whom shall be nominated by the opposition party
• A member of parliament shall not hold more than one of the following offices at the same time: (a) Prime Minister, (b) Leader of the House, and (c) Head of a political party
• Except on Finance Bills, members of the lower house shall have full power to vote against the party that nominated them
• The chairmen of the standing committees of the legislature will always be nominated from among the opposition members
• In order for a political party to be eligible for representation in the upper house on the basis of the PR system, it must secure at least 1% of the votes cast in the National Assembly elections 
• The speaker of the upper house shall be elected from among the members of the upper house on the basis of a simple majority
• There shall be a deputy speaker of the upper house who shall be elected from members of the upper house who are not from the ruling party