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With the election results out, senior leaders of the major political parties are busy holding discussions on the new government formation. Most probably, the process to form the new government will start from mid-December. The Election Commission has started preparations to submit the report of the final results of the elections to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly to President Bidya Devi Bhandari on December 15. The process of forming the new government will start after the President receives the report. After the Election Commission hands over the report, the President will have to call the parties to start the process of forming the new government. There is a constitutional provision that the President appoints the leader of the Parliamentary Party with the majority in the House of Representatives as the Prime Minister. None of the parties have secured a majority in this election. That is why, it has not been decided who will lead the government. Parties are holding discussions on the same. According to the Article 76 (1) of the Constitution, if no party garners clear majority, there is a provision that the President can appoint a member of the Parliament who can obtain a majority with the support of two or more parties represented in the House of Representatives as the prime pinister. If the prime minister is not appointed according to the Article 76 (2) within 30 days from the date of announcement of the final results of the election to the House of Representatives as per Article 76 (3) or the prime minister appointed on the same way fails to obtain vote of confidence as per Article 76 (4), there is a provision that the President appoint the parliamentary party leader of the party with the highest number of members in the Parliament as the prime minister. The prime minister appointed as per Article 76 (2) or (3) will have to obtain vote of confidence within 30 days. The Election Commission had submitted the results of the 2017 election on February 14. CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli was appointed the prime minister on February 15.  

Prabhu Sah, who got elected as an independent candidate in the recently concluded elections, CPN (Maoist Center) deputy general secretary duo Pambha Bhusal and Janardan Sharma and Secretary Devendra Paudel held a meeting at party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s residence in Khumaltar on Monday. During the meeting that lasted for an hour, the leaders discussed power sharing, a leader of the CPN (Maoist Center) said. They also discussed the ordinance issued to amend the Criminal Code to withdraw the cases. A Cabinet meeting held on Sunday had decided to issue the ordinance. Sah was elected as a member of the House of Representatives with the support of the ruling coalition. He has been constantly holding meetings with the Maoist Center leaders lately. Earlier, Dahal had held meetings with Resham Chaudhary, who has been doing time on the murder charge, Janamat Party Chairman CK Raut and Nepal Samajbadi Party Chairman Mahendra Yadav. Recently, the Maoist supremo has intensified meetings with the leaders of various political parties to urge them to help him become the prime minister.    

CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said that the key to national politics is with the Maoist. Addressing the first meeting of the central office bearers organized by the Press Center Nepal in Lalitpur on Sunday, the former prime minister said that the onus to take the country towards the path of right direction rests on the shoulder of the Maoist. “The Moist is that kind of party even the international powers cannot do anything” Dahal said. Saying that many powers are hatching conspiracies to finish off the Maoist, the Maoist supremo said that it is the responsibility of all to protect the party. “It is not clear that the government will be led on the rotation basis,” he said, adding, “The Maoist has the capacity to command 60 seats.” Though the powers, who want to see the Maoist in a worse situation, tried to weaken the party, the condition is not like that.  

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that democracy has been further strengthened in the country after the newly-elected people’s representatives assumed their offices. Inaugurating the 3rd General Convention of National Association of Rural Municipalities in Nepal here today, the PM compared the local level government as a pillar of federalism and democracy adding that the new priority should be ensuring good-governance and development to the citizens through the strengthening of the local government. PM Deuba also said that some confusions on the concurrent rights of the constitution should be made clear and should unite for the successful implementation of federalism. “The federal government is required to take prompt initiatives to draft the laws and implement them for the local and province levels. Priority should be given to immediately issue very important laws including civil service, education, agriculture and health care and to make the old-fashioned laws in line with the constitution,” PM Deuba added. The PM was of the view that good-governance could be institutionalized at the local levels if they move ahead by applying the reform measures including structural reforms, robust internal control mechanisms, use of new technology in service delivery, balance between loss and income, service recipient-centric plans, training and research and new market strategy. The PM also asked the local levels to formulate their plans in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), create employment opportunities to the skilled and educated human resources at home and ensure debate, discussions and interactions among the people’s representatives, officials and people. On the occasion, PM Deuba urged to widen the role of local government on conservation, utilization and promotion of natural and cultural heritages, skill-generating education, environment conversation and other issues. The Association is an umbrella institution of 460 rural municipalities from across the country. The event, to continue for three days is scheduled to elect its 37-member central working committee for the upcoming five years.