Report in The Kathmandu Post,30 Nov 2022
CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal has said he does not see any possibility of the leftist parties coming together and forming a government.
Nepal said this while talking to journalists at the end of this party’s Secretariat meeting on Tuesday. The stance of the party, a member of the current ruling coalition which also contested the parliamentary and provincial elections as an alliance, means it would be easy for the coalition to form the next government. The ruling coalition comprises the Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Centre), CPN (Unified Socialist), Rastriya Janamorcha and the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party.
The meeting was called to review and assess the results of the federal and provincial elections, which were held on November 20.
Despite the electoral alliance, the Unified Socialist has won just 10 seats in the federal parliament and 14 seats in various provincial assemblies. The party is struggling to retain its status as a national party for which it must garner at least three percent of the popular votes in parliamentary elections.
“I don’t see the possibility of a leftist alliance forming a government,” he said, “We have decided to continue our partnership with the ruling coalition.”
He also said the alliance has not yet discussed who will become the next prime minister. He said that there is still time for discussing prime ministership since re-polling and counting of votes are still continuing in some places, and the final results of the elections are not out yet.
Also during his recent meetings with Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Nepal told them that there is no alternative to the current alliance and his party will remain with the alliance.
Although the final results of the elections are yet to be out and the ruling alliance is likely to fall short of winning a simple majority, which is 138 seats, the alliance has decided to form the next government in partnership with some like-minded parties or independent candidates. But there is no word on who will head the new government.
Meanwhile, Nepal said although his party is not happy with the election results, it has decided to stick with the alliance to prevent the country from heading towards the rightist path.
“The election results did not come as per our expectations,” Jagannath Khatiwada, head of the party’s publicity department.
According to Khatiwada, the party has decided to reject the election results in Ilam-1, where its leader Jhalanath Khanal lost to CPN-UML’s Mahesh Basnet by a margin of over 2,600 votes. The party claims the vote was rigged and is planning to formally demand a re-polling.
The party is also planning to contest the election results of Udayapur-2, where the party’s leader Khatiwada lost to CPN-UML’s Ambar Bahadur Rayamajhi.
Tuesday’s meeting of the party has also instructed its district committees to send reports on the elections to the party headquarters for a review.
https://kathmandupost.com/politics/2022/11/30/cpn-unified-socialist-rules-out-the-possibility-of-leftist-alliance
