Kathmandu, December 9
Nepal’s main communist parties the UML and CPN Maoist Centre, the outfit that ran a ten-year-long insurgency, are looking at a historic win in the country’s first parliamentary elections after a new constitution was promulgated in 2015.
The two parties entered into an electoral alliance just ahead of the polls and are to attempt a merger in the days to come. While the UML is in the opposition, the Maoists are in government, although Nepali Congress leader and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has stripped them of their portfolios.
As results for the 165 first-past-the-post seats in federal parliament come in, the ‘Left Alliance’ is poised to win close to a hundred seats. Under the PR system, in which the country is turned into a single constituency and voters choose the political party of their liking for the remaining 110 seats, the Left Alliance is also likely to register a big win. The alliance is close to getting the 138 seats it needs to form the new government.
The alliance has already hinted that UML leader KP Oli will be its candidate for Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, the Nepali Congress has failed to impress voters even in areas considered traditional strongholds of the party. In Province 1, the party is yet to win a seat in Morang, the home district of the Koiralas. The party’s Prakash Man Singh and Gagan Thapa did win two seats in Kathmandu, but their victory was also hard-fought.
Bibeksheel Sajha Party, dubbed as Nepal’s Aam Aadmi party, put on an impressive fight for Kathmandu-1, but its leader Rabindra Mishra lost to Singh by 700-odd votes. Although the party is unlikely to win an FPTP seat, it is likely to win around five-six seats under the PR system.
