Politics in Nepal has been volatile for years. The recent elections are expected to bring in some stability. The Left alliance has secured a substantial majority in the historic provincial and parliamentary polls. The CPN-UML emerged as the largest party. The Left alliance was led by former Prime Minister K.P Oli and the CPN-Maoist leader Prachanda. The alliance backed 116 out of a total of 165 seats. It is now in a comfortable position to form a government at the Centre. CPN-UML leader K.P Oli is likely to lead the next government. The combined strength of the two Madheshi parties-Rashtriya Janata Party and Federal Socialist Forum, Nepal accounted for 21 seats. The remaining four seats were divided among three fringe parties and an independent candidate. The Left alliance also secured a majority in all but one provincial assemblies. Out of a total of 330 seats, the CPN-UML bagged 168. The Maoist Centre won 73 seats while the Nepal Congress captured 41.
Under the proportional voting system, however, the CPN-UML has only a thin majority over the Nepal Congress. The CPN-UML has so far garnered 2.25 million votes and the Nepal Congress 2.16 million votes. The House of Representatives in Kathmandu consists of 275 members. 165 of them would be elected directly under the first-past-the-post system. The remaining 110 will come through the proportional representations system. K. P Oli, the Prime Minister to be, makes no secret of his leaning towards Beijing and so the poll results do not look to be in India’s favour.
