With about one-half of the results of the election to the Constituent Assembly (CA) having already been out, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) is sweeping over the country, its seat tally exceeding the combined total of all the other parties combined, at least so far. Under the First-Past-the-Post system, 240 seats are available for grabs, and under proportional representation, the number is 335. Given the trend seen in the counting in progress, the CPN-M is clearly heading to be, at least, the single largest party in the CA. The results so far have confounded almost all predictions, as they had expected the CPN-M to emerge to be a distant third behind the Congress and the CPN-UML. First of all, the people’s popular vote for the Maoists has established them as a legitimate force in Nepal, and reflects the people’s endorsement of the causes the Maoists have championed through their People’s War, later expressed in the present peace process.

The people, it may well be supposed, have also indicated their dissatisfaction with a situation in which some other party has been at the head of the government since Jana Andolan II, despite the fact that the nation has adopted the Maoist agendas, which form the central tenets of the peace process. The voters have made known their desire to see the originators of the agendas to be in the lead role, too, in implementing them. The electorate’s endorsement of the peace process also means the need for all the parties to work together to bring the process to a logical conclusion based on cooperation and understanding, at least till the Constitution is drawn up and promulgated. Indeed, the Interim Constitution stresses consensus even after the CA polls. And the leaders of the three major parties – the Congress, the CPN-UML and the CPN-M – had pledged even before the April 10 election that, irrespective of whichever party won a majority, there would be a coalition government. This spirit must be kept up.

The unfolding popular mandate is expected to make the political transition smoother and the resolution of contentious issues like the adjustment of the PLA combatants easier. The decimation of the Congress and the UML and the defeat of most of their central leaders will not be without serious implications for those parties. CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Nepal and Congress acting president Sushil Koirala have already announced their resignation from their respective posts after they lost the election. The outcome may well mark a decline in influence of the Koirala family on the Congress politics, not only because of the poor Congress performance but also of the defeat of daughter Sujata in Sunsari and nephew Shekhar Koirala in Morang. The royalist parties of former Panchas have been eliminated. But in their place, Tarai-based parties have emerged. Whatever the final tally of scores, the pressing need is to make the transition successful within the framework of national unity. Maoist chairman Prachanda’s speech, made immediately after his election from Kirtipur on Saturday, was a message of reassurance to the other parties, security personnel, civil servants, and to the international community.