KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 6

The Election Commission has finished counting all proportional representation ballot papers and the CPN- UML has emerged as the largest party in the proportional representation vote tally with 2,845,641 PR votes.

Although the Nepali Congress has finished second in PR vote count with 2,715,225 votes, the party has emerged as the largest party in the House of Representatives as it has won the - 57 firstpast-the-post seats. In comparison, the UML has won 44 FPTP seats.

The CPN-Maoist Centre which won 18 FPTP seats finished third with 1,175,684 votes.

The Rabi Lamichhane-led Rastriya Swatantra Party, which was formed only a few months back and has won seven FPTP seats, has emerged as the fourth largest party in the HoR with 1,130,344 PR votes. In the PR vote tally, RSP has only 45,340 votes less than the CPN-MC.

Out of 10,560,067 valid votes, parties obtaining three per cent votes, i.e. 316,802 votes will be considered national parties.

Madhav Kumar Nepal-led CPN (Unified Socialist), which had won 10 parliamentary FPTP seats, failed to become a national party as it was short of 18,411 votes. The CK Raut-led Janmat Party won just one parliamentary FPTP seat, but will be considered a national party as it secured 394,655 votes.

The Mahantha Thakur-led Democratic Socialist Party-Nepal, which was a national party in the previous House of Representatives, will not be considered a national party this time as it has obtained only 167,367 PR votes. The Ranjita Shrestha-led Nagarik Unmukti Party, which won three FPTP seats, will not be considered a national party, as it won only 271,722.

There were 17,988,570 eligible voters for the November 20 parliamentary and provincial elections. However, 10,560,067 votes were valid under the PR system. A total of 61.5 per cent voters had cast their votes.

EC technical team which allocated PR seats to parties obtaining three per cent PR seats and one FPTP seat has already submitted its report to the EC chief. The poll panel allocates PR seats to political parties on the basis of Sainte-Laguë method.

Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya had told THT that they would try their best to announce the PR seat allocation today but the EC had not done so until 10:00pm.

The EC may announce the seat allocation tomorrow.

A version of this article appears in the print on December 6, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.