Less than 30 percent of delegates cast their votes in the second phase of elections for office-bearers at the first general convention of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP).
According to Laxman Rimal, operator of Ram-Laxman Innovations, which is managing the electronic voting system, only 1,289 votes were cast in the office-bearer election.
Although the RSP has not officially disclosed the number of general convention delegates, party leaders say there are 4,311 delegates. Based on that figure, more than 3,000 delegates did not vote in the office-bearer election.
In the first phase of election for the central committee, 2,959 delegates had cast their votes.
In the ongoing second phase of voting, less than half as many delegates participated compared to the central committee election. Relative to the total number of general convention delegates, the votes cast so far account for only around 30 percent. This suggests that more than 70 percent of delegates did not participate in the office-bearer election.
Voting was initially scheduled to continue until 4:30 p.m. However, due to the low turnout, the party's central election commission extended the voting period until 5:30 p.m. and they were waiting for voters, Rimal said.
"There is currently no one in line," he said. "Since there is still time remaining, we are waiting in case anyone comes to cast their vote."
The exact reason why such a large number of delegates did not participate in the second round of voting remains unclear. However, some party leaders said that many delegates may have already returned home due to difficulties in arranging accommodation as the general convention dragged on longer than expected.
