Hung assembly; election results complete

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 25 April: A hung constituent assembly has emerged after announcement of final results of indirect elections by the Election Commission Friday.
In the 601-member assembly, CPN (Maoist) have emerged as the largest party with 220 seats after it was allotted 100 seats in indirect vote; it collected 120 seats in direct elections.
Nepali Congress of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala emerged as the second largest with total 110 seats- 73 indirect and 37 direct seats.
CPN-UML is the third largest parliament with total 103 seats- 70 indirect and 33 direct seats.
MJF will have 52 total seats while and TMLP will be represented with 30 seats; they are the fourth and fifth biggest parties and were not represented in the interim parliament.
The election has, in effect, relegated the seven-party alliance of parliamentary parties that launched the successful April 2006 movement with Maoists to the dustbin.
The two parties along with the NSP have emerged as regional parties in national politics pushing interests of the south bordering India by ousting conservative parties like RPP and RJP wooed by the international community in the last two years.
They have been wiped out in direct elections they managed to got representation in the assembly through proportional representation.
CPN (ML) and RPP have collected eight indirect seats each.
Conservatives RPP-Nepal and RJP have been allocated four and three seats each.
Altogether 25 of 54 parties that contested elections will be represented in the assembly.
Parties will have to send their nominees for indirect seats to the commission in one week. The Commission selected 335 persons in the indirect vote.
Government will have to convene the assembly within 21 days after it receives official communication from the Commission on the election result.
Maoists, as the largest party, have staked a claim to form a coalition government under it.
But Koirala isn’t quite ready to quit although CPN-UML has withdrawn from government saying that was the directive of the popular vote.
Koirala asked CPN-UML to rejoin government saying no party got a convincing majority in elections.
Maoists collect 29.28 percent votes in indirect elections compared to 21.1 percent votes collected by Congress,
Sixty-three percent of 17.6 million voters cast indirect votes while 61 percent cast direct ballots.
Government will nominate 26 more assembly members.
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Lhasa, Kodari railway link in five years

Kathmandu, 25 April: In five years land-locked Nepal will be linked with Tibet across the Himalaya.
China hopes to complete a strategic railway link by extending a railway line that will link Lhasa and Kodari, on the Nepal-Tibet border, in the next five years.
When complete, Nepal will be directly linked with Beijing—a concern for India.
A Chinese delegation led by the foreign department chief of the Chinese Communist Party conveyed China’s plans to extend the railway line to Nepal to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala before returning home Friday.
The delegation was also the first foreign team to visit Nepal after elections with elevated Maoists closer to power in Nepal through election.
The delegation also held extensive political discussions with leaders of CPN (Maoist) and CPN-UML
Nnnn


Hung assembly; election results complete

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 25 April: A hung constituent assembly has emerged after announcement of final results of indirect elections by the Election Commission Friday.
In the 601-member assembly, CPN (Maoist) have emerged as the largest party with 220 seats after it was allotted 100 seats in indirect vote; it collected 120 seats in direct elections.
Nepali Congress of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala emerged as the second largest with total 110 seats- 73 indirect and 37 direct seats.
CPN-UML is the third largest parliament with total 103 seats- 70 indirect and 33 direct seats.
MJF will have 52 total seats while and TMLP will be represented with 30 seats; they are the fourth and fifth biggest parties and were not represented in the interim parliament.
The election has, in effect, relegated the seven-party alliance of parliamentary parties that launched the successful April 2006 movement with Maoists to the dustbin.
The two parties along with the NSP have emerged as regional parties in national politics pushing interests of the south bordering India by ousting conservative parties like RPP and RJP wooed by the international community in the last two years.
They have been wiped out in direct elections they managed to got representation in the assembly through proportional representation.
CPN (ML) and RPP have collected eight indirect seats each.
Conservatives RPP-Nepal and RJP have been allocated four and three seats each.
Altogether 25 of 54 parties that contested elections will be represented in the assembly.
Parties will have to send their nominees for indirect seats to the commission in one week. The Commission selected 335 persons in the indirect vote.
Government will have to convene the assembly within 21 days after it receives official communication from the Commission on the election result.
Maoists, as the largest party, have staked a claim to form a coalition government under it.
But Koirala isn’t quite ready to quit although CPN-UML has withdrawn from government saying that was the directive of the popular vote.
Koirala asked CPN-UML to rejoin government saying no party got a convincing majority in elections.
Maoists collect 29.28 percent votes in indirect elections compared to 21.1 percent votes collected by Congress,
Sixty-three percent of 17.6 million voters cast indirect votes while 61 percent cast direct ballots.
Government will nominate 26 more assembly members.
Nnnn



Lhasa, Kodari railway link in five years

Kathmandu, 25 April: In five years land-locked Nepal will be linked with Tibet across the Himalaya.
China hopes to complete a strategic railway link by extending a railway line that will link Lhasa and Kodari, on the Nepal-Tibet border, in the next five years.
When complete, Nepal will be directly linked with Beijing—a concern for India.
A Chinese delegation led by the foreign department chief of the Chinese Communist Party conveyed China’s plans to extend the railway line to Nepal to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala before returning home Friday.
The delegation was also the first foreign team to visit Nepal after elections with elevated Maoists closer to power in Nepal through election.
The delegation also held extensive political discussions with leaders of CPN (Maoist) and CPN-UML
Nnnn