KATHMANDU: Leaders of the five-party ruling alliance are meeting almost every day to discuss seat-sharing in the November 20 elections to the House of Representatives (HoR) and Province Assembly.
However, allocation of seats has been a tough nut to crack for the parties as most of them have remained adamant about their respective positions – not budging an inch.
Perhaps, they did not realize that they would be facing tremendous challenges when it comes to seat-sharing.
In Thursday’s meeting of the top leaders of the five parties held at the Prime Minister’s official residence, Baluwatar, Nepali Congress (NC) demanded 100 seats in the November 20 elections to the House of Representatives.
“NC’s rigid position can be detrimental to the alliance,” warned Madhav Kumar Nepal, Chairman of the Unified Socialist, a partner in the five-party ruling coalition.
In a television interview on Thursday evening, Chairman Nepal hoped that the NC would maintain flexibility on the number of seats in the upcoming election.
“How could they become so rigid?” he queried criticizing the NC leaders for being too ambitious, boastful and rigid.
Himal Puri, the leader of the Rastriya Janamorcha Nepal, said that Nepali Congress claimed 100 seats while the Maoist Center claimed as many as 60 seats.
Likewise, Madhav Nepal’s Unified Socialist claimed 40 seats, Janata Samajwadi Party 32, and Rastriya Janamorcha two seats.
“We are under discussion. This is not final,” Nepal said concurred by Puri.
Asked whether the parties can garner a majority if they contested individually, Madhav Nepal said, “I do not disagree with this claim. Neither the Nepali Congress nor other parties can garner majority votes if they contested the election separately.”
Therefore, observers have to say that the parties in the ruling coalition want to contest the upcoming election on the basis of seat-sharing “or else the CPN-UML will get a majority.”
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