KATHMANDU, Sept 22: Even as the ruling Nepali Congress continues to maintain a thin lead on the third day of vote count of Province 2 polls, early indications point to a tight race between the national and regional parties.
Altogether 36,318 candidates are in the race for 6,600 positions for one metropolitan city, three sub-metropolises, 73 municipalities and 59 rural municipalities.
As of Thursday, the Nepali Congress has won 10 seats, while the CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) have respectively won seven seats and five seats. Similarly, the Federal Socialist Forum Nepal (FSFN) and Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJPN) have won four seats each.
These are very early trends and likely to change in the next few days. However, if the early trend sustains till the final counting, it is turning out to be a multi-sided race with a mixed results.
Early poll outcomes have come as a shock to the national parties. The major party, notably the NC and UML, seem to have lost ground in their core constituencies.
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UML appears to have done well in local units with mixed settlement of Madhesi and Pahadi voters, while losing significant votes in core Madhesi constituencies. The party is leading in 14 units including Jitpur Simara Sub-metropolitan city.
The decline in UML’s share of vote was perhaps expected due to the party’s rigid stance on the constitution amendment. UML leaders had claimed to win 70 local units.
NC’s performance is relatively better in core Madhesi constituencies but still short of expectation. The party, which was hoping to win 100 local units, is leading in 27 seats. If the early trends continue, NC is destined to lose berth of the largest party to UML.
Compared to NC and UML, Maoist Center’s performance is far better. The party is leading in 21 seats.
As anticipated, the Madhes-based parties, which were in the frontline of the protest against the constitution, appear to have managed to gain votes in areas they lost during the second constituent assembly election. RJPN, which partially boycotted the second phase of local polls, has been taking a thin lead in Birgunj metropolitan city, while trailing behind NC in Dhanusa Sub-metropolitan City, the proposed capital of Province 2. The party has won in 4 seats and leading in 28 seats.
“The early outcome isn’t disappointing as the major parties had both power and resources at their disposal. We have room to do far better in the upcoming elections,” said Brishesh Chanda Lal.
Likewise, Upendra Yadav led FSFN, which emerged as the fourth largest party in the first two phases of elections, has won four seats and leading in 16 units.
Province 2 poll outcomes have come as a big boost to the two regional parties. A strong performance has not only strengthened their position in the national politics, but has also brought hopes of better results in the planned provincial and parliamentary elections.
The provincial and parliamentary polls are scheduled to be held in two phases on November 26 and December 7. Madhesi leaders said the regional parties are looking to fare better than they did in the first Constituent Assembly elections in 2008.
Despite bolstered performance of other regional parties, Province 2 polls have come as a major setback for the Bijaya Gachhadhar-led Nepal Loktantrik Forum. So far, the party has won 2 seats and leading in one seat.
“We are not satisfied with the early results but we remain hopeful that the scenario will change as the counting enters the final stage,” said Ram Janam Chaudhary.
