Kathmandu, Nepal, September 6, 2022: The five-party ruling alliance has reached closer to an agreement on seat sharing deal for the upcoming parliamentary and provincial elections slated for November 20.It is said that the taskforce formed to finalize the seat sharing deal likely to sign in an agreement today.
As the Nepali Congress shown its flexibility by agreeing on 86 seats for the House of Representatives (HoR) out of total 165 seats under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system, agreement on seat sharing deal became possible, a member of the taskforce said preferring anonymity.
Earlier, the ruling head Nepali Congress had been claiming for 100 seats. The dissident faction led by Shekhar Koirala including General Secretary Gagan Kumar Thapa has still been hesitating to get just 86 seats. The faction has been insisting that Nepali Congress should not compromise on less than 90 seats.
Earlier, tther allies of the incumbent government- CPN (Maoist Center) CPN (United Socialist) Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) Nepal and the Rastriya Janamorcha had been offering just 80 seats to the Nepali Congress. Withstanding the long been prevailing differences among the ruling allies over the issue of seat sharing, Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba, who is also the Prime Minister, had proposed for 86 seats to his party.
It is said that four parties in the alliance have agreed to share remaining 79 seats among themselves. Though no agreement is made yet to share 79 seats among four parties, it is likely that 44 seats would be given to the CPN (Maoist Center) 20 to the CPN (United Socialist), 13 to the Janata Samajwadi Party and 2 for the Rastriya Janamorcha.
Earlier, the CPN (Maoist Center), had been demanding 60 seats while the the CPN (Unified Socialist) 40 seats, the Janata Samajwadi party 32 seats and the Rastriya Janamorcha two seats.
As the Maoist Center and the United Socialist are in the process to merge the two parties, the Maoist Center would compromise to get 40 seats to grant 24 seats the United Socialist party. The leaders like Baburam Bhattrai and the Bam Dev Gautam would vie elections under the quota allocated the Maoist Center and the United Socialist. The leaders duo have already decided to vie elections under the alliance.
Following the agreement to forge electoral alliance among the ruling allies in the upcoming elections, the taskforce was formed on August 5 under the chairmanship of the Nepali Congress leader Krishna Prasad Sitaula with the mandate to submit a report by August 16.
However, term of the taskforce was extended after leaders were unable to agree on a seat-sharing formula, thanks to the differences on seat sharing deal. As the extended deadline is going to elapse today, the taskforce is planning to finalize the deal today before handing over the report to the top leaders of the five parties.
