FPTP count ends, six parties cross PR threshold

Kathmandu, Mar. 10: The vote counting for the first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system has been completed with the latest result from Sankhuwasabha on Monday night. The Election Commission (EC) has, however, suspended the announcement of the final results for Dhanusha-1.

As of now, six political parties have secured seats in the House of Representatives (HoR). They are the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), Nepali Congress (NC), Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), Nepali Communist Party (NCP), Shram Sanskriti Party, and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP).

The RSP has emerged as the dominant force in the election, securing 125 seats under the FPTP electoral system and leading the vote count in the proportional representation (PR) system.

The Nepali Congress (NC) has won 18 seats, while the CPN-UML has claimed nine constituencies. Arjun Bahadur Karki was elected from Sankhuwasabha on Monday. The NCP has won seven seats.

In a surprising development, the newly formed Shram Sanskriti Party has secured three seats, surpassing the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), which has won one seat.

Additionally, independent candidate and former minister Mahabir Pun has been elected to the Lower House from Myagdi district of Gandaki Province. He is the only independent candidate to win the election this time. 

The EC has suspended the final result for the Dhanusha-1 constituency after it disqualified the candidacy of RSP's Kishore Sah Kamal two days before the election, after Sah was found to be blacklisted for banking offenses. Sah has filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court.

In response to the writ petition, the Supreme Court issued a show-cause order to the EC on Monday, directing the EC to submit a written response within seven days. The Court has scheduled the next hearing for March 13.

According to Kul Bahadur GC, Joint-Spokesperson for the EC, the result of the Sankhuwasabha under the FPTP would be completed by Tuesday morning. 

The vote counting for this constituency started only on Saturday afternoon, as bad weather delayed the transportation of ballot boxes to the district headquarters.

90% of votes counted under PR system

The EC has completed the counting of approximately 90% of the votes cast under the proportional representation (PR) system.

So far, six political parties have crossed the PR threshold, with the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) leading by a significant margin.

Out of a total of 9,769,464 PR votes counted, the RSP secured 4,704,323 votes, followed by the NC with 1,583,404 votes, the CPN-UML with 1,321,125 votes, and the NCP with 712,515 votes.

Additionally, the newly formed Shram Sanskriti Party has garnered 334,679 votes, while the RPP has received 310,146 votes. No other parties have surpassed the PR threshold yet.

According to the Election Commission, a total of 10,977,711 votes were cast under PR system. 

It is projected that around four per cent of these votes (approximately 439,108 votes) will be invalid, 

leaving an estimated 10,538,601 valid votes.

To cross the PR threshold, a party must secure at least three per cent of the valid votes, which is approximately 316,158 votes. 

With the current valid vote count, only six parties, RSP, NC, UML, NCP, Shram Sanskriti Party and RPP have met the threshold. 

Likewise, only these six parties 

are likely to get the national party status. 

 GC said the EC would complete the vote count under the PR system by Tuesday. 

According to officials, the vote counting under the PR system in Sankhuwasabha-1 has not yet started. Once the counting under FPTP system is completed, the PR vote counting will commence.

Meanwhile, the PR vote counting is currently underway in several constituencies, including, Lalitpur-2, Ilam-2, Jhapa-1 and 2, Sunsari-1,2 and 4, Bhojpur-1, 

Okhaldhunga, Dhanusha-1 and 2, Mahottari-3 and 4, Sarlahi-1 and 2, Rautahat-2,3 and 4, Saptari-1, 2 and 3, Siraha-1, Nuwakot-1, Dhading-1, Kavre-1, Sindhupalchowk-2, Ramechhap-1 and 2, Makwanpur-1 and 2, Syangja-2, Gorkha-2, Bardiya-1 and 2, Dang-1, Nawalparasi West-1, Dolpa, Kailali-2, Baitadi, Achham and Bajura.