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575 (of the 601) seats to the 2nd Nepalese Constituent Assembly 301 seats needed for a majority |
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Constituent Assembly elections were held in Nepal on 19 November 2013. The vote was repeatedly delayed, having previously been planned for 22 November 2012 following the dissolution of the 1st Constituent Assembly on 27 May 2012, but it was put off by the election commission. The Nepali Congress emerged as the largest party in the 2nd Nepalese Constituent Assembly, winning 196 of the 575 elected seats.
Following King Gyanendra's suspension of Parliament and government takeover during the Nepalese Civil War, mass protests led to him to re-instate Parliament and end the war fought by the government against the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), on the condition that the constitution would be re-written. The king's powers were also removed and an election was held in 2008 to elect a Constituent Assembly. The Constituent Assembly was tasked with writing a new constitution; however, its deadline was extended several times, with the last one set for 27 May 2012.
In the lead up to the deadline, there were several violent protests by a variety of ethnic groups outside the Parliament building. Rallies were then banned in the area and around the PM's office with riot police guarding against protests and the Nepali Army on high alert in case the situation could not be controlled. Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai called for a new election on 22 November after the deadline passed, with a possibility of a state of emergency. A member of his party, Post Bahadur Bogati, announced that "it is not possible to promulgate the constitution within the deadline now. That possibility is out, 100 percent."