Nepal president calls on parties to elect new govt

KATHMANDU A day after Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli put in his papers, President Bidhya Devi Bhandari on Monday called on political parties to elect a new premier through consensus within seven days.

Oli‘s government was relegated to a minority after a key ally, Communist Party of Nepalmaoist Centre, withdrew support and he announced his resignation in an address to parliament on Sunday, shortly before he was to face a no-trust vote jointly registered by the Nepali Congress and the Maoists, the largest and third largest political parties in the House.

Bhandari’s announcement came after a meeting with Oli, the chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal-unified Marxistleninist, Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba and chairman of the Maoist Center, Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Pra- chanda”.

During the meeting, Deuba and Prachanda urged the Presi dent to speed up the process o government formation senior Nepali Congress leader Bimalen dra Nidhi told Hindustan Times

Though Prachanda is set to become the new prime minister he might not able of form a gov ernment based on consensus as the CPN-UML and Rpp-nepal the second and fourth larges parties in parliament, are unlikely to extend support to him. This means Nepal will no be able to install a new govern ment within the seven-day dead line set by the president.

Article 298 (2) of Nepal’s Con stitution states that if parliament is in session, the new prime min ister should be elected within seven days with political con sensus. If political parties fail to reach consensus on forming a new government, Parliament will begin the process of electing a new prime minister on the basis of a majority vote.