KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 8

While the ruling coalition will continue negotiations among partners, albeit informally, the formal process of forming a new government will start only after 8-10 days.

The Election Commission wrote to political parties winning proportional representation seats in the House of Representatives and provincial assemblies yesterday, telling them to send names of their PR representatives by Saturday.

Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya told THT that going by the book, parties could get two more days to prepare lists of their PR representatives and could send names by Monday.

Thapaliya said his office would take one day to prepare the election report and would submit it to the president on December 15. "The day we submit the report to the president, we will also send the list of the elected members to the Department of Printing to print names in the Nepal Gazette," he added. Following this, the Parliament Secretariat will invite the senior-most member of the HoR to be administered oath of office and secrecy by the president, according to Spokesperson for the Parliament Secretariat Rojnath Pandey. After that, the senior-most member of the HoR will administer the oath of office and secrecy to all lawmakers. Only after all the lawmakers are sworn in will the president call the first meeting of the HoR on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers. The first and subsequent meetings will be chaired by the senior-most member until a new speaker is elected.

A version of this article appears in the print on December 9, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.