NEPALI CONGRESS SAYS IT WILL FORMNEXTGOVERNMENT
KATHMANDU, Dec 04, 2013 (AFP) -The Nepali Congress party said Wednesday it plans to lead a broad-based coalition after winning the most votes in last month's election, with agreement on a new constitution its top priority.
The Nepali Congress, one of the country's oldest parties, won 196 of the 575 seats up for grabs in the November 19 polls, according to the final results, pushing the former ruling Maoists into third place.
The Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML) party secured 175 seats in the constituent assembly. The Maoists, which swept Nepal's first post-civil war elections in 2008, were humiliated with a tally of 80 seats.
“Our first priority is to form a consensus (crossparty) government,” Nepali Congress general secretary Prakash Man Singh told AFP.
“A consensus government will make it easier for us to promulgate the constitution, which is our primary task,” Singh added.
The Maoists, which entered the political main- stream in 2006 after a decade-long civil war, have alleged that the polls were marred by fraud, leaving their participation in the constituent assembly in doubt.
Singh said his party wanted the Maoists on board but added that it was prepared to form a “majority” government with the UML, if they refused to join a cross-party coalition.