Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba will step down after all the election results are out possibly early next week, Law Minister Yagya Bahadur Thapa has said.

The Election Commission (EC) is in the process of announcing the results for the proportional representation (PR) seats of the House of Representatives. The final results of the House of Representatives elections will be submitted to the President before publication in the Nepal Gazette.

The prime minister will resign as soon as the EC submits the final results to the President, said Minister Thapa. The results are likely to be published by February 13.

After the EC’s notice, political parties will now have to submit their lists of women candidates in the allotted PR quotas. The poll authority is preparing to give the parties three days to submit the names from their closed lists for proportional representation of women and other population categories.

The PM would resign once this procedure is over, according to Thapa, clearing the way for new government formation. But a debate is going on within the PM’s inner circle whether he should resign or simply address the nation calling for initiating the government formation process.

Thapa said the left alliance of the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre) would form the government after the incumbent celebrates Democracy Day on Falgun 7 (February 15). “We’re no more interested in remaining in power,” the minister added.