KATHMANDU:Nepal's State leader Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN-Maoist Center director Pushpakamal Dahal Prachanda held a gathering here on Saturday and they consented to proceed with their decision five-party union as a feature of another greater part government in the country.
Top political parties in Nepal have intensified their efforts to form a new government in order to end the political instability that has plagued the Himalayan nation for more than a decade as the direct voting results of Nepal's parliamentary elections draw closer.
Decisions to the Place of Delegates (HoR) and seven commonplace gatherings were hung on Sunday.On Monday, the process of counting votes began.
According to party sources, Prime Minister Deuba and CPN-Maoist Centre chairman Prachanda met at the Prime Minister's residence in Baluwatar, Kathmandu.
According to Ganesh Shah, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPN-Maoist Centre, the two leaders met to talk about the latest political developments and look into possible ways to form the new government.
He stated, "The two leaders have reached an understanding to continue the current ruling alliance," expressing confidence that the five-party alliance would be able to form a majority government in parliament.
Shah told PTI, "The Janata Samajwadi Party led by Upendra Yadav will also join the ruling alliance led by the Nepali Congress, and we will have a comfortable majority to form the government with support from both Madhesi parties."
The Nepali Congress, led by Prime Minister Deuba, the CPN-Maoist, led by Prachanda, the CPN-Unified Socialist, led by Madhav Nepal, the Lokatantrik Samajwadi Party, led by Mahantha Thakur, and the Rashtriya Janamorcha, led by Chitra Bahadur are all members of the alliance.
In the direct election, the CPN-UML alliance, led by former prime minister K P Oli, has won 52 seats, while the five-party ruling alliance has won 82 seats so far.
In both direct and proportional voting, the alliance led by the Nepali Congress is likely to win enough seats after the HoR seats are decided to form the majority government.
As the votes for the Federal parliament and provincial assemblies continue to be counted, Indian Ambassador to Nepal Naveen Srivastava is meeting with Nepal's top political leaders.
Sources close to the Nepali Congress and the Maoist Centre say that Ambassador Srivastava met with Prime Minister Deuba and Prachanda on Friday and Saturday.
Direct voting will be used to elect 165 of the 275 members of the House of Representatives, while proportional voting will be used to elect 110 of them.For a clear majority, a party or coalition needs 138 seats.
Since the end of the decade-long Maoist insurgency in 2006, Nepal's Parliament has been plagued by political instability, and no prime minister has served a full term.
The country's slow economic growth has been attributed to party fights and frequent changes.
The ruling Nepali Congress-led democratic and leftist alliance and the CPN-UML-led leftist and pro-Hindu, pro-monarchy alliance are the two major political alliances competing in the elections.
Maintaining a stable political administration, revitalizing the tourism sector, and balancing ties with China and India will be challenges for the next government.AKJ PTI SBP