KATHMANDU, Dec 3: The results of the by-elections held for 41 vacant local-level positions are gradually being tallied as of Monday evening.
While the results of 38 local level positions are already announced, vote counting in three local level positions is underway as of the filing of this report on Monday evening. The three remaining positions include Mayor of Kirtipur Municipality, Vice-Chairman of Gaurishankar Rural Municipality, and Ward Chairman of Ward No. 9 in Belka Municipality.
So far, the Nepali Congress (NC) has won 16 wards. Despite fielding candidates in 41 seats, the NC has yet to secure the positions of Chairman/Mayor or Vice-Chairman/Deputy Mayor.
The CPN (Maoist Center) has won 6 local level positions including one Chairman, one Deputy Mayor and one Vice-Chairman. The Maoists, who contested 40 seats, have largely achieved their expected results.
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Similarly, the CPN-UML has won 5 local level positions including one Chairman and one Vice-Chairman. Although the UML fielded candidates in 39 seats, they did not achieve their anticipated outcomes.
Meanwhile, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has secured victory in just local level position. Despite fielding candidates in 27 seats, the RSS has secured only one chairperson of Ward 16 in Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC).
While 44 positions were initially vacant, three were filled unopposed before the elections took place. Elections were held for various positions, including one mayor, one deputy mayor, and 33 ward chairs, among others, in 32 districts across all seven provinces.
According to the Election Commission (EC), a total of 377 candidates contested these positions. The voting took place on Sunday, starting at 7 am and concluding at 5 pm. Vote counting began in most of the local units a few hours after voting ended.
According to the EC, approximately 62 percent of the 226,792 registered voters cast their ballots.
Except for the Maoist Center, the NC, UML and RSP are dissatisfied with the by-election results. The Maoist Center has secured a respectable number of votes, winning 9 seats, including a chairman, a deputy mayor and a vice-chairman in the 44 contested locations.
The ruling parties, the NC and the UML were not encouraged by their results. The NC lost the municipality it previously held and has not won a single municipality. In total, the NC has secured victory in 16 local level positions.
The UML also failed to meet its expectations. When the first-party UML falls behind the third-party Maoist Center in terms of proportional support, party leaders have called for a serious review of their performance.
However, the NC' performance appears relatively better compared to the UML. The NC is likely to secure the mayoral position in Kirtipur Municipality. According to the results so far, NC candidate Krishnaman Dangol leads UML candidate Surendra Manandhan by nearly five hundred votes.
The by-election has also been a setback for the RSP. So far, it has secured only a single seat in KMC. The RSP, which fielded candidates in 27 seats, has had its deposits confiscated in more than a dozen seats. Although the RSP saw success in parliamentary by-elections during the previous local elections, it has faced a landslide defeat in these local by-elections.
