Balen’s party eyes supermajority as it leads proportional vote in Nepal

Kathmandu, March 7 (IANS) The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), which is sweeping the elections under the First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) system, is also performing strongly under the proportional representation system, securing over 56 per cent of the total votes counted so far.

If the current FPTP leads translate into victories and the trend continues under the proportional system, the party could single-handedly secure two-thirds or close to two-thirds of the seats in the 275-member House of Representatives.

According to the latest vote count under the proportional electoral system as of Saturday, 1 p.m., the RSP has secured 79,261 votes out of a total of 141,079 votes counted, accounting for just over 56 per cent of the votes.

Never before has any political party received such a commanding lead under the proportional representation system since it was introduced in Nepal’s constitutional and legal framework, beginning with the Interim Constitution of Nepal 2007.

In the 2022 elections, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) (CPN-UML), led by K.P. Sharma Oli, secured the highest number of votes. The party received 2.84 million votes, accounting for nearly 30.69 per cent of the total valid votes, according to the election body.

According to the latest tally under the proportional system, the Nepali Congress is a distant second with 22,766 votes, accounting for just over 16 per cent of the total. The CPN-UML is third with 14,209 votes, followed by the Rastriya Prajatantra Party with 7,726 votes, and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), led by former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, with 5,304 votes.

Under the FPTP system, the RSP — led by former media personality Rabi Lamichhane and its prime ministerial candidate Balen Shah — has already secured victory in 36 out of the 165 constituencies and is leading in another 83 seats.

Party president Lamichhane has already won from Chitwan-2, while Shah is far ahead of former Prime Minister Oli in Jhapa-3, the latter’s traditional stronghold, according to the latest vote tally released by the Election Commission of Nepal.

–IANS

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