KATHMANDU, Nepal – During the peace agreement between the then rebel group CPN (Maoist) and the government of Nepal in 2006 the international community has hailed the Nepali people saying that “Nepalis can do anything and they are unpredictable”. The same feature of the Nepali people has emerged once again during the elections of the Constituent Assembly held on Tuesday, November 19.
With the vote counting ongoing in 149 constituencies out of 240, Unified CPN (Maoist) which is the biggest party in the last CA has been chasing the number in the third position in all most all the place after Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML parties.
Though the pre-elections researches and surveys had predicted the equal chances of Nepali Congress party to lead the elections this time along with UCPN (Maoist), neither have anticipated the decision of the people in the ballot box.
In the ongoing vote counting across the country, Nepali Congress party is declared winner in two constituencies – Manang and Kathmandu No. 10- with its leading position in more than 75 constituencies. While CPN-UML is leading in more than 50 constituencies, UCPN (Maoist) is in lead in 25 constituencies with other parties leading in the remaining places.
With the unpredicted results showing on, the Maoist party has threatened not to continue the ongoing vote counting otherwise to stay out of the CA. However, Election Commission has asked all to practice patience till the last vote counting and respect the people’s decision.
Meanwhile, experts and analysts have expressed their worry on the latest statements of the Maoist party regarding election results and said that the power equation that is likely to be formed in the new CA would affect the process of constitution writing.
“As the political force that believed itself and was the biggest party in the last CA is likely to be restricted in nominal seats. At this situation, other big forces want to bypass the Maoists through majority which will force the former rebels to follow protests,” opined an analyst.
