RSP heading toward landslide victory

KATHMANDU: The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is maintaining its solid lead in vote count and appears to be heading toward a landslide victory in the House of Representatives elections held on Thursday.

Counting results as of 2 pm show the RSP has secured 41 out of 165 seats under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system and is leading in 78 constituencies.

Similarly, the Nepali Congress (NC) is trailing in second position with leads in 10 constituencies and confirmed victories in six seats. The CPN-UML is currently leading in eight constituencies and has won two seats so far. Another leftist force in the country, the Nepali Communist Party (NCP) is also leading in eight constituencies and has secured two seats.

Few smaller parties are also trailing in the vote count. The Shram Sanskriti Party (SSP) is leading in four constituencies but has yet to register a victory. The pro-monarchy Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) is leading in one constituency.

The RSP has also taken a commanding lead under the proportional representation (PR) system with 91,688 votes, followed by the NC with 26,431 votes, the CPN-UML with 17,667 votes, and the NCP with 5,478 votes.

The SSP has received 5,410 votes, while the RPP has secured 8,810 votes so far.

A total of 110 members in the country’s 275-member lower house are elected under the PR system. Parties crossing 3% of the total votes cast are eligible for PR seats.