Coalition partners to conduct orientations ahead of presidential election

KATHMANDU: The nine-party coalition has instructed Members of the House of Representatives and members of the seven provincial assemblies to arrive in Kathmandu by 11 am on Wednesday.

According to Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) leader Rajendra Shrestha, the coalition partners will internally conduct an orientation on the voting process for their House of Representatives and assembly members.

The parties had initially agreed to organize a joint orientation, but they later decided to conduct the orientations individually due to the silence period ahead of the presidential election.

Nepali Congress Vice President Purna Bahadur Khadka said the coalition discussed preparation for the presidential election. “We cannot seek to solicit votes for the election because the silence period is in effect,” he added.

Ram Chandra Poudel of Nepali Congress and Subash Chandra Nembang of CPN-UML are the candidates in the presidential election. While Poudel has the support of eight parties in the federal parliament and province assemblies, Nembang only has the backing of his party.