Senior leaders meet to discuss government formation, power-sharing arrangement in Nepal

During the meeting, the senior leaders dwelt on various issues, including the current political situation, power sharing, and government formation, Nepali Congress sources said.

Kathmandu: Senior leaders of Nepal's five-party ruling coalition met here on Friday to review the outcome of the general elections and discuss the formation of the new government and power-sharing arrangement. Nepali Congress leader Ram Chandra Poudel (Maoist Centre), Chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, and Nepal Samajbadi Party Chair Dr Baburam Bhattarai met here in Kathmandu.

During the meeting, the senior leaders dwelt on various issues, including the current political situation, power sharing and government formation, Nepali Congress sources told PTI. Nepal Samajbadi Party leader Mahendra Ray Yadav was also present. Nepali Congress (NC) has emerged as the single largest party with 89 seats after the Election Commission allocated seats to all the political parties under the proportional voting system on Wednesday.

The other partners of the ruling alliance have together secured 47 seats - CPN-Maoist Centre (32), CPN-Unified Socialist (10), Loktantrik Samajwadi Party (4) and Rashtriya Janamorcha. The CK Raut-led Janamat Party, which secured only one seat in the House of Representatives (HoR) under the first-past-the-post category, got 5 seats under the proportional representation (PR) category, which means that the party will have a total of six members in the House.

Oli-led CPN-UML has received the highest votes under the proportional voting system while the NC and CPN-Maoist Centre have secured second and third positions, respectively. The CPN-UML has secured 34 seats under the proportionate voting followed by the NC with 32 seats and CPN-Maoist Centre with 14 seats.

Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has received 13 seats while Rashtriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) and Janamat Party have received seven, five and five seats respectively. After the allocation of proportionate votes, the opposition CPN-UML has 78 seats. Similarly, RSP has secured 20 seats, followed by RPP 14 seats and JSP 12 seats.

The Loktantrik Samajwadi Party has got 4 seats, Nagarik Unmukti Party 3 seats, Rashtriya Janamorcha 1 seat, and Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party 1 seat in the HoR. Five independent candidates have also made their way to HoR. In the 275-member House of Representatives, 165 were elected through direct voting, while the remaining 110 were elected through the proportional electoral system.

Elections to the House of Representatives (HoR) and seven provincial assemblies were held on November 20 to end the prolonged political instability that has plagued the Himalayan nation. (PTI)