Seat sharing: Major problem for five ruling parties

After the announcement of general elections for November 20, the ruling five parties are now exercising to divide 165 seats of the House of Representatives and 330 seats of seven Provincial Assemblies.

The ruling parties have already formed a committee consisting of the leaders from all five parties to divide the seats among them, and the first meeting of the committee on Monday named Krishna Prasad Sitaula of the Nepali Congress as the coordinator of the committee.

The committee has 11 members with three from the Nepali Congress and two each from four other coalition parties.

While Gagan Kumar Thapa, Sitaula and Gyanendra Bahadur Karki are from the NC, Barshaman Pun and Dev Gurung are from the Maoist Centre, Dr. Beduram Bhusal and Pramesh Hamal from the CPN (Unified Socialist), Ramsahaya Yadav and Rakam Chemjong from the Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal and Durga Paudel and Himlal Puri are from the Rsatriya Janamorcha in the committee.

Although there are five parties in the government, two other parties—Loktantrik Samajwadi Party Nepal of Mahantha Thakur and the newly formed Nepal Samajwadi Party of Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, which he registered with the Election Commission after separating himself from the Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal are also willing to be a part of the present coalition. While Thakur has been frequently meeting with Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Mahendra Raya Yadav Nepal Samajwadi Party had already said that they are part of the coalition. Dr. Bhattarai also met with Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Tuesday, probably on the same issue. As such, it will not be a surprise if the number of coalition parties reaches six if not seven, and the addition of the party will surely make the division of seats more challenging. Nepali Congress leaders are pressing for at least 95 seats in the House of Representatives while others have to be content with 70 seats. That’s too the Maoist Centre is demanding at least 40 seats, which means three other parties have to divide 30 seats among them. The CPN (Unified Socialist) may ask for 30 seats. And if Thakur and Bhattarai also seek shares, the NC had to abandon at least 15 more seats, which the rival faction in NC may not agree to.

As the biggest party in the coalition and after it emerged as the largest party in the local polls, NC is demanding at least 60 per cent seats in the HoR. Moreover, the NC

leaders are willing to win simple majority seats in the House with at least 85 from the first-past-thepost system and 50 from the proportional system. Yes, NC can win 50 seats in the proportional election system after the split in the UML, but it may not win 85 seats in the first-past-the-post from 90 to 95 seats it contests.

When the Maoist Centre had won 36 seats from the FPTP system in the 2017 polls, it may not agree to contest only 40 seats while the Madhav Nepal’s party will also seek a bigger share, although both the parties have their strong presence only in limited districts. Upendra Yadav will surely seek half of the total seats in Madhes Province and a few in other districts, which means it will bargain for at least 20 seats. As such only 10 will be left for CPN (Unified Socialist) and the Rastriya Janamorcha.

A few leaders in NC, as well as RPP, are also floating the idea of giving one or two seats to the RPP, especially in Jhapa, to ensure the win of the ruling coalition. Considering, these all factors, sharing seats will be the biggest challenge for the ruling coalition in elections.