ABSTRACT
On 10 April, 2008 Nepal held wholly unprecedented and epochal nationwide electionsthe most peaceful in its history1-for a 601-member constituent assembly (CA).Two hundred and forty representatives were elected in “winner-takes-all” or “first-past-the-post” constituencies, 26 were to be nominated later by the Council of Ministers, and 335 were elected by proportional representation with the whole country as a single constituency. Under strict rules about representativeness, parties were obliged to ensure, both on their submitted lists, and in their selection of successful candidates, that there would be 50 percent women within each of the following categories: 13 percent Dalits, 31.2 percent Madhesis, 37.8 percent Janajatis, 30 percent “others,” and 4 percent from nine backward districts.2
