New Delhi: An opposition alliance between Nepal’s two, major communist parties are all set to clinch the landmark post-war parliamentary and provincial elections, according to preliminary results.
Nepal’s Election Commission said on Saturday that the coalition between the Communist Party of Nepal – United Marxist Leninists (UML) and the former Maoist rebels won 43 seats in the federal parliament, and was leading in 72 other constituencies.
The ruling Nepali Congress won only six seats, according to early tallies.
In the federal parliament, 165 seats are directly elected and 110 are allocated to parties based on proportional representation.
The leftist alliance also secured a majority in state assemblies, preliminary results showed.
The final result may not be known until mid-December, according to officials.
The new government would likely reinstate K. P. Oli, as prime minister. Oli briefly held the post of premier from October 2015 to August 2016, but lost his seat when the Maoists dropped out of a coalition government and Oli faced pressure to resign as leader of a minority government.
Nepal’s relations with India witnessed a series of ups and down in the past when India imposed an economic blockade. The 2015 Nepal blockade, which began on 23 September 2015, severely affected Nepal and its economy. The government of Nepal accused India of imposing an undeclared blockade. India denied the allegations, stating the supply shortages were imposed by Madheshi protesters within Nepal, and that India had no role in it.
The government of Nepal has been of late making efforts to increase trade and connectivity with China while also simultaneously trying to decrease its reliance on India. This is one of the major reasons behind Kathmandu inking an agreement to hop onboard the One Belt, One Road bandwagon in May 2017, despite Indian pressure.
Nepal has seen 10 government changes in as many years.
