Communist Parties’ Victory in Nepal May Signal Closer China Ties<br />Politicians say that decisions like that could be reversed under the leadership of politicians like Mr. Oli<br />of the Communist Party of Nepal, who took a harder line against India when he served as prime minister.<br />Voters said they were elated that the elections took place at all, expressing cautious optimism<br />that new political leadership could offer stability to a country that has had 10 prime ministers in less than a decade.<br />A powerful political coalition of two communist parties led by former prime ministers, Pushpa Kamal Dahal<br />and K. P. Sharma Oli, won a majority of the contested seats in two legislative bodies, the Parliament and the Provincial Assembly.<br />Many said India had spearheaded the blockade because of its internal objections to the Constitution<br />and as punishment for the Kathmandu political establishment’s increasingly cozy relationship with China, which has pumped millions of dollars into investment projects in Nepal.<br />Rajendra Mahato, a leader of the smaller Rastriya Janata Party Nepal, said<br />that it was still unclear whether the newest iteration of Nepal’s government has the latitude or political will to deliver on campaign promises.<br />The Nepal Communist Party, the Maoist party responsible for the attacks, had called for the elections to be dismissed<br />and for Nepal’s parliamentary system to be replaced with a socialist one.
