The new government may well be formed before February 19 after the Election Commission (EC) preponed announcement of the deadline for announcing results of House of Representatives (HoR) through the proportional representation (PR) system.
The EC has shortened the time for announcing results of PR system to five days from 10. It has also amended the guideline for elections and shortened the deadline for submitting the closed list to three days from seven. It has similarly shortened the deadline given to the parties to correct the lists to two days from three.
The new government may well be formed before February 19 due to all these time-saving measures adopted by the EC.
Election for National Assembly will be held in six provinces on February 7 while there will be no election in Province 2 where all eight members have been elected unopposed. Vote counting will start from four in the afternoon on the day of voting itself. Staffers from the Central Bureau of Statistics have already reached the temporary provincial capitals for vote counting, and final results will arrive by February 8.
The EC will write to parties to send names for HoR through PR system including the necessary number of women and other clusters immediately after the final results of National Assembly arrive. The parties will submit the names by February 12 if the EC were to write on February 9. The final results of HoR will arrive by February 15 at the latest including the two days given to the parties to correct the closed lists.
The EC, that has been criticized for not announcing the final results, is also in a hurry to submit the final results to the President as soon as possible. The EC, that had submitted the final results of provincial assembly to the President's Office within 15 minutes of swearing in, is preparing to submit the final results of HoR in a similarly quick manner.
The process for formation of the new government will start once the President gets the final results of HoR.
The lawmaker, who submits signature of lawmakers claiming majority in the HoR, will become the prime minister (PM) as no single party has a majority. The government can be formed immediately if CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) submit the letter to the President claiming majority in the House. The two parties, that together have a comfortable majority, have agreed to make UML Chairman KP Oli the PM.
Oli may be sworn in as PM on February 17 or 18. Oli may well attend the Democracy Day celebrations at Tundikhel on February 19 as PM if there are no unforeseen legal complications.
The PM appointed in such manner will have to pass the floor test within 30 days, according to the Constitution.
