NC has 57 seats, tops Nepal polls

Kathmandu, Dec. 5: The top leaders of Nepal’s five-party ruling coalition on Monday met at Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s official residence here to review the general elections and discuss the formation of a new government.

Nepali Congress chief Deuba, senior leader Ram Chandra Paudel, vicepresident Purna Bahadur Khadka, CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, senior vice-chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha, CPN (Unified Socialist) chair Madhav Nepal and Rastriya Janamorcha vice-chairperson Durga Paudel were among those who attended the meeting held at Baluwatar.

The five-party coalition has won 90 House of Representatives (HoR) seats out of 165 under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system. Prime Minister Deuba’s Nepali Congress (NC) has emerged as the single largest party by winning 57 seats as the counting of votes under the direct system concluded on Monday.

The CPN (Maoist Centre) has won 18 seats, CPN (Unified Socialist) 10, Loktantrik Samajwadi Party (LSP) 4 and Rastriya Janamorcha one.

Elections to the House of Representatives (HoR) and seven provincial assemblies were held on November 20 to end the prolonged political instability that has plagued the Himalayan nation. The counting of votes started a day later.

In the 275-member HoR, 165 will be elected through direct voting, while the remaining 110 will be elected through a proportional electoral system.

A party or a coalition needs 138 seats for a clear majority. According to Nepal’s Election Commission, the opposition Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) (CPN-UML) has bagged 44 seats.

The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and the Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) have won seven seats each.