Solidarity Centre for Nepal Democracy

State Affairs Committee of the Parliament has decided to impose a threshold of three percent and at least one seat under the First-Past-the-Post electoral system to secure seats under the proportional representation system. The committee meeting on Wednesday took the decision to impose the threshold. Earlier, a sub committee formed by the committee decided to impose 3 percent threshold in the upcoming parliamentary election to become national political party. According to the subcommittee member Rameshwor Phuyal, the 27th meeting of the panel decided to provision three percent threshold after the rigorous discussion.  "Any political party must secure at least three percent seat under the Proportional Representation (PR) category and at least one seat under First-Past-the-Post category to become the national political party," said Phuyal.  He hailed the decision of the 11-member panel as historic. The sub-committee was failing to endorse the Bill Related to Political

The sub-committee under the parliamentary State Affairs Committee has reached to a consensus on bill regarding the political parties on Wednesday. As per the provision, for any political party to be recognized as a national party they must secure at least one seat under first-past-the-post (FPTP) and three percent proportional vote. Committee member Ram Krishna Yadav informed that a meeting of the sub-committee held at Singha Durbar this morning forged a consensus despite objections from fringe parties. Nepal Workers Pheasants Party leader Prem Suwal, CPN-ML leader Aindrasindar Nembang among other leaders from fringe parties objected to the provision of securing three percent threshold on PR and one FPTP seat. Ekantipur 22/03/2017

As Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal is preparing to pay an official visit to China on March 23, the PM is scheduled to discuss the matter with former Prime Ministers and China affairs experts beforehand. A meeting of former PMs and China affairs experts has been called at PM Dahal's official residence in Baluwatar at 9 am on Thursday in this regard, said PM Dahal's press advisor Gobinda Acharya. PM Dahal's prior discussions with former PMs and China affairs experts aims to take suggestions on bilateral and multilateral meetings. PM Dahal is scheduled to hold with Chinese officials during the visit, said PM's Secretariat. A Cabinet meeting scheduled to take place today evening will finalise issues to be taken up from Nepal side in the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference, Acharya informed. PM Dahal is leaving Thursday for China to take part in the annual conference of Boao Forum for Asia to be held in Boao, Hainan province from March 23-26. On the occasion, PM

- Kamal Dev Bhattarai Former Prime Minister and Coordinator of Naya Shakti Nepal Baburam Bhattarai has said that there is a lack of ‘proper understanding’ in India about Nepal. Speaking to Post before concluding his visit to India on Tuesday, leader Bhattarai said mainly young generation of India has some flawed understanding about Nepal and bilateral relations between the two countries. The former prime minister maintained that there is a need of dialogue, debate and discussions to rebuild the bilateral relations in the change political context Nepal and India. Bhattarai made such remark after extensive discussions with Indian intellectual and policy makers during his seven-day stay in New Delhi.  Bhattarai underlined the need for building a bilateral relation between two countries at the top political levels. Bhattarai was of the view that there has been a huge change in the political scenario of both countries and bilateral relation should be rebuilt accordingly. He was

Biswas Baral The curious case of Gagan Thapa I don’t know Gagan Thapa well. What I know better is that I want him to continue as my health minister. How many ministers have there been in the post-1990 democratic Nepal who have done something worthwhile for the common folks and not directed all their focus on enriching themselves and their mother parties? Gokarna Bista. Lalbabu Pandit. Janardan Sharma. Narayan Kaji Shrestha. There aren’t many. This is why when we have someone like Gagan Thapa in the cabinet we should ensure that he stays put for at least a few years.  If you want to know what Thapa has done, you only need to visit Kanti Children’s Hospital at Maharajgunj, which was until recently among our most mismanaged and dirtiest public hospitals—and this was a hospital for children. The doctors, nurses and other staff there were rude, offensive even, to the parents who brought their children there for treatment. Nor did the hospital staffs seem to have a clue about how

Kantipath, a renowned street in the capital named after a queen, turned into battleground for hours on Monday after violent clashes broke out between police personnel and cadres of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), who were trying to stage sit-in in front of the Election Commission. Several protesters including RPP senior leader Pashupathi Shumshere Jung Bahadur Rana and television personality Komal Oli, who is also an RPP leader, were injured during the scuffle.The Metropolitan Police Division said the clash ensued after an “unruly mob” tried to enter the EC building and resorted to vandalism. RPP leaders however accused the security personnel of suppressing a peaceful protest. The RPP, which is one of the key ruling coalition partners, was protesting against the removal of the terms “Hindu State” and “constitutional monarchy” from its statute by the EC. On March 17, the EC had removed the terms “Hindu State” and “constitutional monarchy” from the statute of RPP stating