National
CPN-UML, Maoist Centre agree to share 29, 14 seats in National Assembly
CPN-UML Chairman KP Oli and CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal have endorsed the proposal prepared by a joint taskforce on sharing candidates for National Assembly election.CPN-UML Chairman KP Oli and CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal have endorsed the proposal prepared by a joint taskforce on sharing candidates for National Assembly election.
According to the proposal, the left alliance will field 43 candidates for the National Assembly election slated for February 7. The CPN-UML will field 29 candidates and the Maoist Centre will field 14 candidates.
The taskforce formed to finalise the criteria for candidates had submitted its report to both the party chiefs. Chairmen of the two parties studied the report thoroughly this afternoon at Oli’s residence in Balkot, Bhaktapur.
The seat sharing agreement between the CPN-UML and Maoist Centre is in a ratio of 67:33. Earlier in elections of federal parliament and provincial assemblies, the parties had shared seats in a ratio of 60:40.
“The taskforce report is fine. It will be implemented with minor revision,” said Chairman Oli’s press coordinator Chetan Adhikari quoting him.
With the seat sharing finalised, the next step for both the parties is to select candidates from their respective parties within the boundary of their assigned quota.
Furthermore, the chairmen have also reached an understanding to initiate homework for the formation of province government that will take place in 30 days. It is learnt that the taskforce will form a preliminary report regarding state assemblies and the chairmen will finalise it based on the report.
The parties are yet to reach consensus on the number of seats to be shared in the provincial government and major posts of province assembly.
The left alliance is set to form government in six of the seven provinces of Nepal. It has been almost certain that UML will take four chief ministers and Maoist Centre will take two. But Maoist Centre is learnt to have sought more speaker posts in state assemblies. Maoist Centre has demanded that if the chief minister belongs to one party, the speaker should be from another party. However, no official agreement has been reached among the parties on this claim of Maoist Centre.
Adhikari further added that the chairmen today also agreed to expedite the merger process of the parties and have decided to call a Unity Coordination Committee meeting on Sunday. The two chairmen have said that they will do some homework on Saturday before the Committee meets on Sunday.
It is learnt that the parties are preparing to lay the groundwork for unification before the formation of the new government.