General elections were held in Nepal on 20 November 2022 to elect the 275 members of the House of Representatives.^[2] There were two ballots in the election; one to elect 165 members from single-member constituencies via FPTP, and the other to elect the remaining 110 members from a single nation-wide constituency via party-list proportional representation.

Quick Facts All 275 seats in the House of Representatives 138 seats needed for a majority, Registered ...

2022 Nepalese general election

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All 275 seats in the House of Representatives 138 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	17,988,570
Turnout	61.41% ( 7.22 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Sher Bahadur Deuba K. P. Sharma Oli Pushpa Kamal Dahal Party NC CPN (UML) CPN (MC) Last election 32.78%, 63 seats 33.25%, 121 seats 13.66%, 53 seats Seats won 89 78 32 Seat change 26 43 21 Popular vote 2,715,225 2,845,641 1,175,684 Percentage 25.71% 26.95% 11.13% Swing 7.07 pp 6.30 pp 2.53 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Rabi Lamichhane Rajendra Lingden Upendra Yadav Party RSP RPP PSP-N Last election 2.06%, 1 seat at Tanahu 2.06%, 1 seat Merger of parties Seats won 20 14 12 Seat change New 13 New Popular vote 1,130,344 588,849 421,313 Percentage 10.70% 5.58% 3.99% Swing New 3.52 pp New   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   Leader Madhav Kumar Nepal CK Raut Mahantha Thakur Party Unified Socialist Janamat Party Loktantrik Samajwadi Last election – – – Seats won 10 6 4 Seat change New New New Popular vote 298,391 394,655 167,367 Percentage 2.83% 3.74% 1.58% Swing New New New
MPs elected in constituency seats by party
Prime Minister before election Sher Bahadur Deuba NC Elected Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal CPN (MC)

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The election was held alongside provincial elections for the seven provincial assemblies.

After power sharing talks between the outgoing Democratic Left Alliance broke down on 25 December 2022, CPN (Maoist Centre) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal became prime minister, its eight-member cabinet consisting of MPs from his party, CPN (UML), Rastriya Swatantra Party and Janamat Party, with the confidence and supply of RPP, JSP, NUP and three independents.

The fifth House of Representatives elected in 2017 had a five-year term ending in March 2023. In May 2018, the CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) and CPN (Maoist Centre) parties merged to form the Nepal Communist Party. The merger between the two coalition partners took their total strength in the House of Representatives to 174. The leaders of the two parties had an agreement to share the post of Prime Minister with the CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) chairman KP Sharma Oli handing over the post to Maoist Centre chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal after two and a half years. On 20 November 2019, the two leaders agreed to let Oli complete his full term as prime minister.^[3] In a secretariat meeting of the Nepal Communist Party on 14 November 2020, Dahal presented a political document which accused Oli not following party orders and being individualistic.^[4] In response to Dahal, Oli rejected Dahal's accusations and presented his own political document which accused Dahal of not letting Oli run the government.^[5] As the strife within the party continued, Oli requested President Bidhya Devi Bhandari to dissolve the House of Representatives on 20 December 2020 as a no-confidence motion was being prepared against him.^[6][7][8] In protest of the decision by Oli, seven ministers of the cabinet resigned.^[9][10]

The House was reinstated on 23 February 2021 but on 7 March 2021, deciding on a separate writ, the Supreme Court annulled the decision of the Election Commission to grant the name Nepal Communist Party to the party created by merger of the CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) and CPN (Maoist Centre), and positioned them to their pre merger status.^[11] The CPN (Maoist Centre) withdrew its support from the government on 5 May 2021 and Oli failed to obtain a vote of confidence while a faction of his own party boycotted the vote.^[12]

On 13 May 2021, Oli was appointed minority prime minister as the leader of the party in parliament with the highest seats.^[13] Rather than retake a vote of confidence, Oli started the process of formation of government through provision of Article 76(5), which was challenged in the Supreme Court. Sher Bahadur Deuba claimed signed support of 149 MPs, including 26 from the CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) and 13 from the People's Socialist Party, Nepal.^[14][15] Oli claimed support of all MPs of the CPN (UML) and the People's Socialist Party, Nepal.^[16] President Bhandari decided on 22 May 2021 that both claims were inadequate and announced the dissolution of House, leading to widespread opposition.^{[17][18][19][20]} On 12 July 2021, the Supreme Court ruled the dissolution of parliament invalid, while ordering the appointment of Deuba as prime minister, as per article 76(5), by submitting 149 signatures to the President, which is a majority of 271 members present in the House.^[21]

A cabinet decision on 4 August 2022 decided on holding the next general election on 20 November 2022.^[22][23] The house was finally dissolved on 18 September 2022 after the completion of its five-year term.^[24][25]

The key dates are listed below:

The 275 members of the legislature are elected by two methods; 165 are elected from single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting and 110 seats are elected by closed list proportional representation from a single nationwide constituency.^[29] Voters receive separate ballot papers for the two methods. A party or electoral alliance has to pass the election threshold of 3% of the overall valid vote to be allocated a seat in the proportional vote.^[30] Nepal uses the Sainte-Laguë method to allocate proportional seats.^[31]

Voting is limited to Nepali citizens aged 18 or over of sound mind and not having been declared ineligible under federal election fraud and punishment laws.^[32]

There were 12 political parties that were represented at the House of Representatives following the election. Only seven parties met the three percent threshold set in proportional voting to become national parties.^[59]

Nepali Congress emerged as the largest party after the elections winning 89 seats. The Democratic Left Alliance won 136 seats at the election but failed to get a majority by two seats. The alliance were in talks with Janamat Party and Nagrik Unmukti Party in order to gain a majority in the House of Representatives.^[60][61]

CPN (UML) won 78 seats at the election and was the second largest party in the House of Representatives. The party however got the most votes in the party list proportional system.^[62]

President Bidya Devi Bhandari called on the parties to form a government on 19 December 2022, after the final results of the election were presented to her by the Election Commission.^[63] Pashupati Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, as the senior-most member of the new House of Representatives, was sworn in on 21 December 2022 by the president.^[64] He administered the oath of office to the newly elected members of the House of Representatives on 22 December 2022.^[65]

After power sharing talks between the Democratic Alliance broke down on 25 December 2022, CPN (Maoist Centre) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal presented his claim for the post of prime minister with the support of CPN (UML), Rastriya Swatantra Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, People's Socialist Party, Janamat Party, Nagrik Unmukti Party and three independents.^[66] Dahal was sworn in as prime minister for the third time the next day with an eight-member cabinet consisting of MPs from his party, CPN (UML), Rastriya Swatantra Party and Janamat Party, with the confidence and supply of RPP, PSP, NUP and three independents.^[67]

The inaugural session was scheduled for 9 January 2023.^[68] Dahal secured a vote of confidence on 10 January 2023 with 268 votes in his favor and only two MPs from Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party and Rastriya Janamorcha voting against him.^[69]

The CPN (UML) withdrew from the coalition on 27 February 2023, citing Dahal's decision to back an opposition candidate supported by the Nepali Congress in the upcoming presidential election.^[70] Dahal had announced this in order to gain the support of NC in the legislature. A vote of confidence is due within 30 days of the loss of a legislative majority.^[71] The Rastriya Prajatantra Party had withdrawn support days prior due to the same issue.^[72] The Rastriya Swatantra Party had also previously withdrawn its ministers from the government,^[73] although remained supportive under a confidence-and-supply agreement.

• 2022 Nepalese National Assembly election
• 2022 Nepalese provincial elections
• 2022 Nepalese local elections
• 2021 split in Nepalese communist parties
• 2021 split in the People's Socialist Party, Nepal
• 2022 Madhesh Provincial Assembly election