Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts tagged as “Nepal”

Dahal sees foreign hand in poll debacle

by Tika R Pradhan in The Kathmandu Post, Dec 12, 2022CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman and former prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Sunday said foreign powers directly interfered in the November 20 federal and provincial elections and called the situation serious. This is the first time a top politician has publicly accused foreign powers of meddling in the recent elections. “We have seen many elections since joining the peace process [in 2006]. But never before…

Parties pick PR candidates amid cries of unfairness

by Tika R Pradhan & Nishan Khatiwada in The Kathmandu Post, Dec 11, 2022The seven political parties that earned the national party status in the recently-concluded polls finalised the candidates to be elected under the Proportional Representation (PR) category and submitted their lists to the Election Commission on Saturday, the deadline set by the election body. “We have received the PR lists from all the concerned parties,” said Guru Wagle, assistant spokesperson for the Election…

Government continues to ignore rights body’s recommendations

Report in Kathmandu Post , Dec 11, 2022Implementation of the recommendations by the National Human Rights Commission largely continues to be in abeyance due to the government’s indifference. As per the report of the constitutional human rights watchdog, less than one sixth of its recommendations have been fully implemented by the government. The commission’s annual report presented to President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Wednesday shows that it had recommended action in 503 complaints after thorough…

JSP open to joining government, and ruling coalition is positive

by Nishan Khatiwada in The Kathmandu Post, Dec 10, 2022 .With the election results out and parties busy bargaining for forming a new government, the Janata Samajwadi Party has been keeping its options open on whether to join the government—and, if yes, then how. Two electoral alliances led by the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML went head-to-head in the last month’s parliamentary and provincial polls. But none garnered the majority seats—138—required to form the government.…

UML trying every trick in the book to break five-party bond

by Tika R Pradhan in The Kathmandu Post, Dec 9, 2022CPN-UML, the largest party in the previous House of Representatives, slipped to a second position in the new House with 78 seats, winning 11 seats less than the Nepali Congress, which has become the dominant force with 89 lawmakers. UML leaders, who are well aware that they could have no executive powers for the next five years, have been trying to sow divisions in the…

What led to Unified Socialist’s debacle?

by Nishan Khatiwada in The Kathmandu Post, Dec 9, 2022On July 23, 2022, Madhav Kumar Nepal, while speaking at a function in Kathmandu, claimed that the CPN (Unified Socialist) would secure 20-25 lower house seats under the proportional representation category. “Despite fielding only 28 percent candidates in the last local polls, we garnered 927,000 votes. Had we contested in every part of the nation, we would have received 2 to 2.5 million votes. So, no…

Neighbours have been snubbing Nepal’s diplomatic notes

by Purushottam Poudel in The Kathmandu Post, Dec 8, 2022Nepal has sent three ‘diplomatic notes’ to India since Sher Bahadur Deuba became prime minister last July. The most recent diplomatic note to the southern neighbour was sent on Tuesday following scuffles on the Nepal-India border at Darchula over India’s unilateral construction of an embankment on the Mahakali river. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent the latest diplomatic note requesting a joint inspection of the disputed…

Ruling alliance two seats shy of majority

By Binod Ghimire in The Kathmandu Post, Dec 7, 2022The CPN-UML, which trailed the ruling Nepali Congress in the first-past-the-post (FPTP) seats, has won the most (34) seats of the lower house under the proportional representation (PR) system. In the seat allocation completed on Tuesday night, the ruling Congress has managed to bag 32 PR seats. The party that had won 57 FPTP seats will now have a total strength of 89 seats in the…

Nepal calls for joint inspection of disputed Mahakali site

Report in The Kathmandu Post, Dec 7, 2022Two days after scuffles broke out between Nepali and Indian citizens in Darchula district over India’s unilateral construction of an embankment on the Mahakali river, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday sent a diplomatic note to the government of India for joint inspection of the site of dispute. Sewa Lamsal, spokesperson at the foreign ministry, confirmed to the Post that a diplomatic note had been sent on…

The mad rush for power could destabilise politics

by Nishan Khatiwada in The Kathmandu Post, Dec 6, 2022With no clear majority for either the Nepali Congress- or CPN-UML-led alliances in November polls, government formation is proving to be a tough row to hoe. All major and fringe parties have been directly or indirectly negotiating to join the government. As such, government formation will get knottier, said political watchers. The newly formed Rastriya Swatantra Party, which emerged as the fourth largest force from the…

Four ruling parties agree to continue partnership

by Tika R Pradhan in The Kathmandu Post, Dec 6, 2022With the count of first-past-the-post votes completed and that of the Proportional Representation ballots nearing end, the ruling coalition partners held their first meeting at Baluwatar and decided to continue with the existing five-party alliance led by the Nepali Congress. The coalition’s leaders have issued a joint statement, pledging to give continuity to the coalition, thereby ending the possibility of all other options of forming…