S0UL SEARCHING
The
Kathmandu Post
15
December 2017
S0UL SEARCHING
All the local, provincial and
federal level elections were successfully held in accordance with the new constitution.
Voters enthusiastically participated in all the polls regardless of sporadic
bomb blasts and attacks on candidates. Vote counting under the First Past The Post
(FPTP) system of the provincial and federal elections are over. Total votes
cast under the Proportional Representation system will be distributed among the
contesting political parties using the ‘Sainte-League’ formula. Under this
system, each party’s votes are divided by a sequence of odd numbers until
enough quotients are found to allocate all 110 seats of the House (“How PR seats are allocated” Page 2,December 13).
The left alliance comprising the
UML and CPN-MC has won the majority seats in both the provincial and federal
elections. This indicates that the voters wanted to see a change in the
existing political environment. The frequent change of government in the past was
a major obstacle for the overall development of the nation and a big concern of
the people. Only the leaders of the political parties benefitted from that
unstable political environment. Still, it is yet to be seen whether the left
alliance of the UML and CPN-MC will remain intact in the days to come and
fulfil the promises they made during the election campaign. I would not be surprised
if this left alliance breaks up in the coming days considering their past
political activities.
Nepali Congress (NC) was the big
loser in the recent elections. Voters seemed to be less optimistic about its
future political performance based on its past political blunders. The impeachment
motion against the then Supreme Court Chief Justice, political interference in
the appointment of Inspector General of Police and jumbo cabinet of 64
ministers undermining the elements of New Constitution were some issues with
the Deuba led government. The intra-party political feud of NC also contributed
to its weak performance The time has come for NC to seriously contemplate its
past weaknesses and political blunders in order to avoid sliding further down
the political drain in the days to come (“
Deuba ‘in no mood’ to resign as NC chief” Page 1,December 13).
Rai
Biren Bangdel
Maharajgunj
http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/printedition/news/2017-12-15/bottlenecks.html
