Alliance of communist parties leading poll results in Nepal

An official from the election commission pours the ballot papers from the box, as officials start counting the votes, a day after the parliamentary and provincial elections in Kathmandu, Nepal December 8, 2017. (Reuers)

An alliance of two major communist parties is leading parliamentary election results in Nepal and could be forming the next government in the Himalayan nation.

According to preliminary results by Nepal’s Election Commission on Saturday, the alliance of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) and Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center) has won 19 seats in the National Assembly and is leading in 81 other constituencies. In the assembly, 165 seats are directly elected and 110 are allocated to parties based on proportional representation.

The ruling Nepal Congress party has so far won three seats. Officials have been counting votes since Thursday night and final results could take days. The northern half of the country voted on Nov. 26 and the remaining part on Thursday.