Nepali Congress, CPN-UML in talks to form govt

Top leaders of Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, which today emerged the two major parties in Nepal's Constituent Assembly polls, began parleys on forming a coalition government and the constitution-making process.
The Nepali Congress was the single largest party in the assembly, having topped both the direct and proportionate voting systems.
As the counting of votes under the proportionate voting system concluded, Nepali Congress headed by Sushil Koirala secured 24,21,252 votes out of a total of 93,77,519 valid votes.
Jhalanath Khanal-led CPN-UML was in second place with 22,43,447 votes. The Prachanda-led UCPN-Maoist, the largest party in 2008 polls, was routed and in third place with 14,38,666 votes.

After the votes for proportionate voting were counted, top leaders from Nepali Congress and CPN-UML decided to work together on drafting and enacting a new Constitution and forming a new government according to the mandate given by the people, Nepal News reported.
Khanal met Koirala and discussed various aspects of working together. He requested Koirala to take the lead to form a coalition government and lead the constitution making process, the report said.

In response, Koirala said he needs cooperation from all quarters to fulfil the target of enacting a full-fledged constitution, saying that being the largest party it would be the responsibility of his party to lead the government.

"We will continue holding discussions on the constitution making process and forming a new government," Khanal was quoted as saying after the meeting.
Out of the 240 seats under the direct voting system, results for which have already been announced, the Nepali Congress has bagged 105 seats followed by CPN-UML, which grabbed 91 seats.
UCPN-Maoist was third with 26 seats and the remaining 18 seats went to Madhesi and fringe parties.
The results to the polls will lead to the formation of a 601-member Constituent Assembly, including 240 elected through direct voting. Proportionate voting will elect 335 members and the remaining 26 will be nominated by the government.