Erroneous claim in FSFN’s poll manifesto

Sujit Mainali / November 16, 2017

The manifesto made public by the Federal Socialist Forum, Nepal (FSFN) for the upcoming parliamentarian and provincial elections has made the following claim about the constitution amendment bill, which was rejected by parliament on August 21:

“The amendment bill had proposed amending Article 11(7) of the constitution to restore the provision of the interim constitution regarding citizenship through matrimony.”

South Asia Check has examined whether this claim is fact-based or not.

First of all, the amendment bill had proposed amending Article 11(6) of the constitution, not Article 11(7) as stated in the manifesto.

Article 11(6) of the Constitution of Nepal, 2015 mentions how a foreign woman who has a matrimonial relationship with a Nepali citizen can acquire naturalized citizenship. The article states, “A foreign woman who has a matrimonial relationship with a citizen of Nepal may, if she so wishes, acquire the naturalized citizenship of Nepal as provided for in the federal law.”

The amendment bill had proposed replacing this provision with the following: “A foreign woman who has a matrimonial relationship with a citizen of Nepal may, if she so wishes, acquire naturalized citizenship of Nepal as provided for in the federal law after she begins the process to renounce the citizenship of her country.”

Regarding this issue, the following was mentioned in Article 8(6) of the Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2007, “A foreign woman who has a matrimonial relationship with a citizen of Nepal may, if she so wishes, acquire naturalized citizenship of Nepal as provided for in the laws in force.”

The provision of interim constitution is similar to the provision mentioned in the Constitution of Nepal, 2015. In fact, the amendment bill had proposed changing this provision. The failed bill had proposed to allow a foreign woman having matrimonial relationship with a Nepali citizen to acquire naturalized citizenship soon after she begins the process to renounce the citizenship of her country.

Therefore, the claim in the FSFN manifesto is incorrect.

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