Nepal Elections: Rastriya Swatantra Party Leads, Balendra Shah Likely Youngest PM

In Nepal, counting for 165 seats under the first-past-the-post system is complete, and counting for Proportional representation is underway.

Under the first-past-the-post system, the Rastriya Swatantra Party has won in 125 constituencies, Nepali Congress won 18 seats, UML has 10 seats and NCP has won 8 seats. RPP has won 1 seat, Shram Sanskriti Party has won 3 seats and an independent candidate has won 1 seat.

The Election Commission had completed the counting of nearly 90 percent of the votes cast under the proportional representation system. So far, 6 political parties have crossed the PR threshold, with the RSP leading by significant margin. Any party must cross the PR threshold which is by securing 3 % of the valid votes. A total of 10,977,711 votes were cast under the PR system and 316,158 votes were required to cross the PR threshold.

Now EC has to present the Election report to the President. The president then shall call the new session of House of Representaive within 30 days. After the House of Representatives session convenes, the senior most member of the House, will administer the oath of office and secrecy to all the elected members. According to Article 76(1) of constitution, the president shall appoint the leader of the parliamentary party that commands majority in the House of Representatives as the Prime Minister and the council of Ministers shall be constituted under his or her chairmanship.

As RSP is the largest winner in march 5 elections, RSP has to choose its Parliamentary Party leader. During election campaigning, RSP had gained votes promising Prime Ministership to Balendra Shah. If RSP continues to keep its promise, Balendra Shah would become the youngest PM of Nepal.