The CPN-UML, which looks likely to win a majority of the first-past-the-post seats in elections to both the House of Representatives and provincial assemblies, also leads the tally in early proportional representation vote count. The Nepali Congress, which faced a crushing electoral defeat in direct polls, closely follows the UML in the PR race.

The CPN (Maoist Centre), which has forged an alliance with the UML, stands third in popular vote in both tiers of parliament. The Maoist Centre holds the second position in terms of FPTP seats won as of Sunday evening. According to the statistics updated by the Election Commission until 9:30pm on Sunday, the UML secured 185,737 votes, followed by 178,141 of the NC in the House. The Maoist Centre had got 83,413 votes.

In provincial assemblies, the UML was leading with 24,815 votes followed by the NC’s 17,586 and 8,176 of the Maoist Centre as of 8pm. 

With the UML and the Maoists securing first and third largest votes under the PR system, their alliance is set to form not only the federal government but also six of the seven state governments.

Analysts say this puts the NC in no position to challenge power as long as the left alliance remains intact. “For long, popular votes of the NC and the UML have remained competitive. I expect similar results this time too,” said political analyst Krishna Khanal. “This may not be enough for the NC to make up for its losses in FPTP elections since PR seats account for only 40 percent of the total seats.”

In the 275-member House, 165 members are elected directly while 110 seats are shared among the parties based on their PR votes. In the seven provincial assemblies, 330 seats in total are filled from the FPTP election while 220 members are elected proportionally. In provincial assemblies, parties securing less than 1.5 percent of the total PR vote are denied seats.

There are several districts where the PR votes are yet to be counted. According to the Election Commission, counting of PR votes is over in nine districts. A total of 10,587,521 voters exercised their franchise in both layers of elections held in two phases on November 26 and December 7.