Will form next govt in Nepal by month-end: Left alliance

The alliance of Nepal's main Communist parties today said it will form the next government by the end of the month, after winning a majority in the historic provincial and parliamentary polls.
The alliance has so far bagged 113 seats out of a total 165 under the first-past-the-post system. The CPN-UML has secured 77 seats followed by CPN-Maoist with 36 seats while Nepali Congress is third with 21 seats. The results of only five seats remain to be declared.
"The new Left government in Nepal will be formed by the end of December with the Election Commission officially publishing the results of all the winning candidates in provincial assembly as well as House of Representatives," said Bishnu Rijal, spokesperson of the CPN-UML election mobilisation committee.

The House of Representatives consists of 275 members, of which 165 would be elected directly under the first-past-the- post system while the remaining 110 will come through the proportional representation system.
The parties will intensify work on party unification and government formation once the leaders of CPN-Maoist Centre and CPN-UML - former prime ministers Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' and K P Oli - who are now in their home districts to hold victory rallies, return to the capital, Rijal said.
CPN-UML chairman Oli is expected to lead the Left alliance government to be formed in a couple of weeks.

The CPN-UML and the CPN-Maoist have forged an electoral alliance for the landmark polls, which is seen as a turning point after two decades of conflict and political instability in Nepal.

The poll outcome is expected to mark the end of Nepal's transition to a federal democracy, 11 years after the end of a brutal civil war in 2006. Since then, the Himalayan nation has seen 10 prime ministers.
Meanwhile, the Left alliance is inching towards a clear majority to form a new government with more election results coming in.
According to the EC, the vote counting under the proportional category will conclude by mid-December.
The combined strength of the two Madhesi parties has reached 21, with RJPN securing 11 seats and FSFN winning 10, ensuring that they will now have a stronger presence in Parliament.

However, unlike in the first-past-the-post system, the NC is doing much better in the proportionate voting system. The party is close behind the CPN-UML with the vote counting crossing the 1,000,000-mark.
This means the Nepali Congress will have more seats under proportionate system than the direct voting system. In the backdrop of this there will be a strong opposition in the Parliament led by the NC.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister and NC chief Sher Bahadur Deuba has come under pressure from the party's rank and file to step down from the leadership of Nepal's largest party.
However, senior NC leader Balkrishna Khand, a strong supporter of Deuba, has ruled out the possibility of him stepping down from the party presidency.

There is no immediate need for the party president to step down as the responsibility of the party's failure in the elections is a collective one rather than Deuba's alone, Khand said.