Nepal, March 7 -- The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) maintained a commanding lead in Nepal's proportional representation vote count on Saturday, securing more than half of the ballots tallied early.

Preliminary data from the Election Commission showed the RSP, had secured 22,442 votes, or 56.83 perecent, out of 39,483 votes counted so far.

The RSP has already won 15 seats in the first-past-the-post contest and is leading in more than 100 other constituencies, signalling a major shift away from traditional powerhouses.

The established Nepali Congress party sat in a distant second place with 7,505 votes, representing about 19 percent of the early tally.

The pro-monarchy Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) was in third place with 3,169 vote...