Final Vote Count Confirms Six Parties Gain National Status in Proportional Representation; RPP Sees Significant Losses

Biratnagar. The counting of votes for the proportional representation (PR) category of the House of Representatives election held on Falgun 21 has been completed. According to the Election Commission, out of the total votes cast, 10,769,543 votes were deemed valid, and six parties secured national party recognition and proportional seats.

Based on the total valid votes, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) secured 5,154,948 votes, accounting for 47.8 percent. The Nepali Congress received 1,755,479 votes, or 16.2 percent; CPN-UML received 1,452,637 votes, or 13.4 percent; CPN (Maoist Centre) received 809,530 votes, or 7.5 percent; Shram Sanskriti Party received 385,708 votes, or 3.5 percent; and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) received 330,227 votes, or 3 percent.

When allocating the 110 seats based on the total votes of the six parties that crossed the threshold, the Rastriya Swatantra Party is set to win 52 percent of the seats, totaling 57 seats. Similarly, the Congress is expected to get 17.75 percent, or 20 seats; CPN-UML 14.7 percent, or 16 seats; CPN (Maoist Centre) 8 percent, or 9 seats; Shram Sanskriti Party 3.8 percent, or 4 seats; and RPP 3.3 percent, or 4 seats.

In the 2079 House of Representatives election, CPN-UML had won the most PR seats with 2,845,641 votes, securing 34 seats. This time, UML has lost 49 percent (1,393,685) of its votes and 52 percent of its seats. UML is projected to win 16 PR seats this time.

The Congress, which won 32 seats with 2,715,225 votes in the last election, has lost 35.56 percent (960,830) of its votes and 37.5 percent of its seats. Congress has secured 20 PR seats this time.

The CPN (Maoist Centre), which won 14 seats with 1,175,684 votes in the last election, has lost 33.46 percent (366,613) of its votes and 35.7 percent of its seats, settling for 9 seats.

The Rastriya Prajatantra Party, which won 7 seats with 588,849 votes in the last election, has lost 44 percent of its votes this time and 42.8 percent of its seats, settling for 4 seats.

The Rastriya Swatantra Party, which won 13 proportional seats with 1,130,344 votes in the last election, has added 354 percent, or 4,017,873 votes this time, increasing its seat count to 57. It has added 44 seats this time.

The Janata Samajbadi Party, which won 5 seats with 421,314 PR votes in the previous election, and the Janamat Party, which secured 5 seats with 394,655 votes, failed to cross the threshold this time.

In this election, the Rastriya Swatantra Party achieved an even better result in the direct elections than in the proportional representation category. In the previous election, the party won only 7 direct seats. This time, it added 1686 percent, or 118 seats, winning 125 seats in the direct category. The Nepali Congress, which won the most direct seats with 57 in the previous election, has lost 68 percent, or 39 seats, this time, limited to 18 seats.

Similarly, CPN-UML, which won 44 direct seats in the previous election, has lost about 80 percent of its seats this time. UML has lost 35 seats, limited to 9 seats. The CPN (Maoist Centre), which won 18 direct seats in the previous election, has lost 55 percent of its seats, or 10 seats, limited to 8 seats.

Furthermore, the RPP, which won 7 direct seats in the previous election, has lost 6 seats this time, winning only 1 direct seat. The newly formed Shram Sanskriti Party won 3 direct seats, while parties that won direct seats in the previous election—JSP, Lospa, Janamat Party, Nagarik Unmukti Party, Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, and Rastriya Janamorcha—failed to win any seats.

With the counting of PR votes also complete, the Rastriya Swatantra Party has secured two seats short of a two-thirds majority in the 275-member House of Representatives. Having won 125 direct seats and 57 PR seats, totaling 182 seats, RSP is 2 seats short of the two-thirds majority of 184 seats. The Nepali Congress, which became the second largest party in this election, won a total of 38 seats from direct and proportional representation. In the previous election, Congress had won a total of 89 seats. CPN-UML has won a total of 25 seats from direct and proportional representation. In the previous election, UML had won 79 seats.

The then CPN (Maoist Centre), which won a total of 32 seats from direct and proportional representation in the previous election, has won a total of 17 seats this time. The RPP, which won a total of 14 seats in the previous election, is limited to just 5 seats this time. The newly formed Shram Sanskriti Party won a total of 7 seats in this election from direct and proportional representation, while independent candidate Mahabir Pun has entered the House of Representatives from Myagdi.