Constituent Assembly: Inclusive Electorate Process

Tek Tamrakar

Introduction

Constitution does illustrate the hopes and aspirations of the people at large. It is not only a political chattel that does shares political power among the three wings of governance but also a document that reflects the socio-economic and political economy of the country. Since it reflects the culture, diversity and whole structure of the country, constitution-building process is considered as the most important step of the restructuring the country. Three ways of constitution building process are in practice–constitution convention, legislative assembly and constituent assembly through direct elections. Generally we outline the process as follows:

Negotiated or majoritarian dominated process,

• Constituent Assembly, and
• Deliberative participation of people at large.

We adopted only a negotiated process to build constitution where the haves (majoritarian) groups dominated whole contents of constitution. Minorities were completely excluded in this process. Later on, two processes are democratically considered as significant to generate peoples’ ownership by enhancing their representation and participation in the process. Only focusing on constituent assembly may not be enough to make people’s voice reflect during the constitution making process. Therefore, deliberative participation of the people through different ways is equally important factor in hammering out a constitution. To make people’s representation dynamic, proportional electoral system can help represent all sections of society at constituent assembly.

Constituent Assembly and Proportional Election

We are in transitional phase; obviously we should choose a more inclusive electoral process to ensure representation of all sections of society in the constituent assembly. Choosing criteria for an electoral system should be taken into account before adapting any electoral process. Universal criteria of electoral process are as follows:

• Providing representation

• Making elections accessible and meaningful

• Providing incentives for conciliation

• Facilitating stale and efficient assembly

• Holding the members of assembly more accountable towards people at large

• Holding individual representatives to account

• Encouraging political parties, and

• Taking into account “the international standards.

At the same time we need to focus on elections of constituent assembly through direct election system. Direct election system is more democratic. In this system, people can directly elect their representatives to build constitution. Even under direct system, two other systems First Past the Post System (FPPS) and proportional system come into it. Proportional electoral system gives room for equal representations of all sections of society. It ensures more pluralism than actually FPPS (majority model) does.

Majoritarian system, on the other, only enhances representation of majorities. Here, majority means social groups belonging to high or dominant class. Proportional representation is a more common system of voting than the plurality voting system. In this system, agenda and principle of the very political parties figure high rather than the individuals. Voters vote on the basis of the principle and agendas of the political parties. Therefore, since 1990 many established democracies which practiced the majority model have now shifted to adapt to new realities.

Thought proportional election system is a buzzword now, no political parties do seem to have any strategy and action plans to materialize proportional system. Even under the proportional system there are many models. More specifically single transferable and party list systems have been adopted by many countries. Party list system is used as a simple and economy proportional electoral model. In this system each party lists its candidates according to party’s determination on priorities. According to the votes, they can have the representation. The representatives are selected according to the priority list.

For the party list system, we should introduce multi-member constituencies. As we all know that proportional election provides voters to cast more than one vote, multi-member constituencies are imperative. At the same time, of the two open and close party list systems, we should also identify which model is appropriate for us under party list system.

In a close list system, voters vote for a list not for a candidate. Each party is allocated seats in proportion to the number of votes, using the ranking order on its list. And in open system, voters may vote, depending on the model, or one person, or for two, or indicate their order for preference within the list. In this system voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party’s candidates are elected. The third and most rarely used party list system is ‘free list’. It allows voters to vote for candidates from different party lists. Seats are essentially allocated to individuals candidates based on their popular support.

How can proportional election be inclusive?

All political parties and groups always use the word “inclusive democracy” frequently in their slogans and speeches. Only one agenda of people’s movement II was inclusive democracy. To this end, we all should do our best to ensure inclusiveness in the process of state restructuring. The protection of the voice of minority part is only one end of this system. However, it is not easy that it can ensure the representation of all unrepresented groups equitably. Unless the equitable representation of all unrepresented groups is ensured, having complete inclusive democracy will end up as a myth. Thus, we should experiment such a process that can ensure equitable representation of all sections of society while all other parties and groups can have proportional representation. To make it a success, all political forces should have consensus on these the following tasks;

• As mentioned above, mere proportional electoral system does not ensure the due representation of all groups. It is therefore; some compensatory measures should also be taken into account. For this special treatment is to be given to the disadvantaged community for ensuring their equitable representation in the assembly.

• To materialize special treatment theory in the election process, state should determine the numbers of candidates and representatives in terms of population and their marginalization. The basis of marginalization is more important than population. As we all are direct testimonies that state has been discriminating women, dalits, ethnics/indigenous for a long time enacting discriminatory laws and policies, to compensate them would be to create an amicable way so that they can have due representation.

• The mechanisms which are introduced during constituent assembly elections, all sections of society should have qualitative representation in i.e. people’s media commission, people’s electoral commission and others. Representation in such wings can directly or indirectly help have better polices, plans for further development.

• Distinct constituencies for certain communities can also be an option to ensure equitable representation in constituent assembly polls. At the same time, all political parties and groups should provide candidacy to the representatives of civil societies and other interest groups. Culture of giving candidacy to the political activist should be abandoned. All political parties and groups should be liberal in this respect.

• Lastly, we should think that mere mentioning some contents for some groups is not enough to ensure inclusiveness rather we should ensure their representation in the process. And representation too not as a token but genuinely be enhanced.

Conclusion

We are in the process to internalize inclusive democracy in our political economy. In this internalization we should focus on the constitutionalism built in 21st century. This newly developed constitutionalism theory says discussion, interactions, mailing and indirect participation through sending delegates can ensure their representation. Neglecting even single between these two can harm popular edifice of constitutionalism.

Merely focusing on constituent assembly ignoring participation of people in forming of constituent assembly is not enough to enhance the theory of constitutionalism. Existing Interim Constitution Drafting Committee excluded representation of the marginalized sections of the society. This reflects hegemonic and majoritarian culture among the parties. Unless we end this culture, our journey to inclusive democracy will not be complete. After all constitution (whether the interim or full fledged) making process is not a task confined only to the closed room by technicians. It’s rigorous public task only possible through the deliberative participation of people at large.

Equitable representation of all sections of society should be guaranteed by the interim constitution. The expected regulation regarding elections of constituent assembly can only speak about the process in detail. Civil society can enhance many activities through media campaign, face to face programs, advocacy and interactions to generate civic education to this end.