Kathmandu, Nepal, November 29, 2022: With almost all results of the November 20 federal and provincial elections determined the shape and size of the political parties and no signal party won the majority of seats in the House of Representatives (HoR) to form a new government on its own, attempts are being intensified to form a new coalition government.
As any party (s) needs at least 138 seats to form a majority government in the 275-member HoR, the political parties, particularly the major two- Nepali Congress and the CPN UML, have been competing themselves to form a new government on their own leadership by taking into confidence the other fringe parties.
Top leaders of the ruling alliance led by the Nepali Congress on Monday held several rounds of intense meetings on forming a new government and power-sharing mechanism. In the separate meeting held with Maoist Center Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and United Socialist Chairman Madhav Nepal, the Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba gave a word to continue the incumbent alliance even underlining the need of further strengthening the alliance.
Of the five party alliance- Nepali Congress, CPN-Maoist Centre, CPN-Unified Socialist, Lokatantrik Samajwadi Party (LSP) and Rashtriya Janamorcha, the Nepali Congress alone has secured 53 seats in the HoR under the first past the post electoral system. The CPN-Maoist has bagged 17 seats, CPN-Unified Socialist 10 seats, LSP 4 seats and Rastriya Janamorcha 1 seats.
Although the coalition member parties of the ruling allies are determined to form a new government again, it is still uncertain whether the coalition member parties will win a simple majority of 138 seats in the HoR.
However, winning of majority seats by the incumbent ruling alliance would not enough to assure of forming a new government under the leadership of the Nepali Congress. The UML, which has also been leading another alliance, has also been intensifying its efforts to form government under its leadership by taking into confidence the fringe parties including the Maoist Center.
Meanwhile, Nepali Congress President Deuba also held a separate meeting with senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel, who is also in the race for prime minister, on Monday. Besides president Deuba and Poudel, Nepali Congress General Secretary Gagan Thapa and senior leaders like Prakash Man Singh, Shashank Koirala and Shekhar Koirala are also in the race to become prime minister.
The ruling alliance led by the Nepali Congress could easily form new government from federal to provincial level only if the inter and intra party differences over the issue of leading the new government was settled through a amicable way of understanding.
