Speaker election process begins today

KATHMANDU: The process of electing the Speaker of the House of Representatives is beginning on Wednesday.

According to the schedule released by the Federal Parliament Secretariat, candidates have to file nominations between 1 to 4 pm on Wednesday. The list of candidates will be published at 4:15 pm.

If there is only one candidate, the Speaker will be elected unopposed. However, if there are more than two candidates, the Speaker will be elected by a majority vote.

A candidate must have the support of 138 members in the 275-member House of Representatives to be elected as the Speaker.

The ruling coalition has agreed to give the post of Speaker to the (CPN-UML) and the post of Deputy Speaker to the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RPP). UML has hinted that it would field Devraj Ghimire as its candidate for Speaker.

The process of selecting the Deputy Speaker will begin on January 21.