Kathmandu, 13 March: The Election Commission has determined the number of seats political parties will receive under the proportional representation (PR) system in the House of Representatives based on the proportional votes. The counting of proportional votes was completed on Wednesday. However, after reviewing the details received from the districts, the Commission finalized the seat allocation on Thursday.
According to the Commission, out of the total 110 proportional seats, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has secured the highest number. RSP has obtained 57 seats. The Nepali Congress has secured 20 seats, while the Communist Party of Nepal (UML), which has become the third-largest party in Parliament, has obtained 16 seats. The Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) has secured nine seats, the Commission said.
The Shram Sanskriti Party, which was established only four months ago, and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) have each secured four seats, according to the Election Commission. Commission spokesperson and Joint Secretary Narayan Bhattarai said that only six political parties were allocated proportional seats as they crossed the three-percent threshold required by the prevailing election law based on the total valid votes cast.
With the determination of proportional seats, the Rastriya Swatantra Party has now become the largest party in the House of Representatives with 182 members. The party had already won 125 seats under the first-past-the-post (direct) electoral system.
After combining both direct and proportional seats, the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (UML) have become the second and third largest parties in Parliament respectively. The Communist Party of Nepal has become the fourth largest party, while the Shram Sanskriti Party and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party have become the fifth and sixth largest parties respectively.
According to the Proportional Representation Election Directive, 2082, the Commission has sent letters to the parties asking them to submit the names of their proportional candidates within three days, spokesperson Bhattarai said. Political parties will now select candidates based on various clusters and submit the list to the Commission. The Commission will review whether the nominations comply with the proportional election system and then issue certificates declaring them elected.
5.45% votes invalid in direct election, 3.95% in proportional
A total of 18,903,689 voters were registered in the House of Representatives election held on Falgun 21. Among them, 11,168,032 votes were cast under the direct election system.
Out of the total votes cast, 10,559,017 votes were valid, which is 94.55 percent of the total votes.
According to the Commission, 11,280,617 votes were cast under the proportional representation system. Among these, 10,835,025 votes were valid, which accounts for 96.05 percent of the total votes cast under the proportional system.
