Nepal’s premier quits just before no-confidence vote
KATHMANDU: Nepal’s Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli stepped down on Sunday minutes before a no-confidence vote in parliament.
Oli, who has been in office for nine months, told parliament in a speech before the scheduled vote that he had handed in his resignation to President Bidhya Devi Bhandari.
The motion against the coalition government Oli leads was registered earlier this month, once again throwing Nepal into political turmoil. It was brought by coalition partner, Unified Maoist, and the key opposition party, Nepali Congress.
Parliamentarians from Nepali Congress earlier said that the government needed to step down because it has proved itself to be “inept.”
The opposition has said that Oli should resign because he no longer has a majority after the coalition partner pulled out.
The government has shown significant delays in dealing with the reconstruction process in the aftermath of earthquakes in the Himalayan country and issues related to implementing its new constitution.
Oli became prime minister in October after gaining a two-thirds majority with Maoist support.
The government also came under fire for being unable to address the demands of the Madheshi community in the south, who waged a month of protests against the new constitution last year and imposed a border blockade. At least 50 people were killed in the protests.
The president is expected to make the next move, which means she might ask Oli’s government to become a caretaker until a new government is in place, or she will call on all parties to form a government by consensus.
The no-confidence motion was lodged by former Maoist rebels who installed Oli in October but fell out with him after accusing him of failing to honour a power-sharing deal.
“We were left with no alternative because of the arrogance of the prime minister and his party,” Kiran Giri, a senior official of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) said earlier, referring to party’s decision to abandon Oli’s coalition.
The Madhesi Janadhikar Forum Nepal (Democratic) is the other party that said it was leaving the alliance.
Both parties had said they would join the opposition in vote aimed at toppling the Himalayan country’s 23rd government since multi-party democracy was introduced in 1990 after bloody protests.
Nepal has been flirting with crisis since September when it adopted its first republican constitution.