A referendum on the system of government was held in

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

on 2 May 1980. Voters were offered the choice between a non-partisan '' panchayat'' system and a

multi-party system In political science, a multi-party system is a political system where more than two meaningfully-distinct political parties regularly run for office and win elections. Multi-party systems tend to be more common in countries using proportional ...

. The ''panchayat'' system received a slim majority of 54.99%, whereas Multi-Party System only received 45.2% of the total votes.

Voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

was 66.9%.

Background

With the backdrop of mass student protests against his rule in the spring of 1979, King Birendra made a public declaration on May 23, 1979, that a referendum with universal adult suffrage with secret vote would be held in which the people of Nepal would be able to choose between introducing a multiparty system or retain the non-party ''panchayat'' regime. On 21 January 1980, King Birendra published the Referendum Rules, stating that after the referendum 'His Majesty shall make such provisions in the Constitution of Nepal as may deem necessary'.

Method of voting

Nepalese citizens aged 21 and above were eligible to vote. The voters would mark their choice by stamping either of two colours on the ballot paper, blue for the multiparty system and yellow for the non-party panchayat system. It was speculated at the time that the choice of colours had not been coincidental, since the yellow colour was associated with saintly religious qualities. There is no empirical evidence though, that the choice of colours affected the outcome of the vote.

Results

By region

By district

The ''panchayat'' partyless system option got a majority in 54 out of the 75

districts of Nepal Districts in Nepal are second level of administrative divisions after provinces. Districts are subdivided into municipalities and rural municipalities. There are seven provinces and 77 districts in Nepal. After the 2015 reform of administrat ...

. The highest percentage of pro-''panchayat'' votes was recorded in Dolpo (96.4%), the lowest in

Bhaktapur Bhaktapur (Nepali language, Nepali and Sanskrit: भक्तपुर, ; "City of Devotees"), known locally as Khwopa (Nepal Bhasa: , ) and historically called Bhadgaon, is a city in the east corner of the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal located abou ...

(34.4%). The highest scores for the multiparty system option were recorded in Bhaktapur (65.6%),

Udaipur Udaipur (Hindi: , ) (ISO 15919: ''Udayapura'') is a city in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, about south of the state capital Jaipur. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Udaipur district. It is the historic capital of t ...

(65.1%),

Siraha Siraha ( Nepali: , ) is the headquarters and municipality of Siraha District, a part of Madhesh Province, Nepal. Siraha had a population of 28,442 according to the census of 2011. and a population of 82,531 as of 2015. The current population of Si ...

(64%) and

Bardiya Bardiya or Smerdis ( ; ; possibly died 522 BCE), also named as Tanyoxarces (; ) by Ctesias, was a son of Cyrus the Great and the younger brother of Cambyses II, both Persian kings. There are sharply divided views on his life. Bardiya eithe ...

(62.1%). In general, the multiparty system option performed better in areas with higher literacy levels. The Hindu community was more or less evenly divided between the two options. The Muslim community is said to have voted predominantly in favour of the ''panchayat'' system. Ethnic groups like Tamang,

Sherpa SHERPA (Securing a Hybrid Environment for Research Preservation and Access) is an organisation originally set up in 2002 to run and manage the SHERPA Project. History SHERPA began as an endeavour to support the establishment of a number of open ...

, Magar,

Gurung Gurung (exonym; ) or Tamu (endonym; Gurung language, Gurung: ) are a Tibetan people, Tibetan ethnic group living in the hills and mountains of Gandaki Province of Nepal. Gurungs speak Tamu kyi which is a Sino-Tibetan language derived from the ...

and

Kirati The Kirati people, also spelled as Kirat or Kirant or Kiranti, are Tibeto-Burman ethnolinguistic groups living in the Himalayas, mostly the Eastern Himalaya extending eastward from Nepal to North East India (predominantly in the Indian state ...

overwhelmingly supported the ''panchayat'' option, whilst the Tharu are said to have been predominantly in favour of the multiparty system. Shaha, Rishikesh. ''Politics in Nepal 1980-1990''.

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

: Manohar Publications, 1990. p. 69-70.

References

{{Nepalese elections

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

Referendums in Nepal History of Nepal (1951–2008)