Nepal Prez dissolves Parliament, fresh polls in November
KATHMANDU: Nepal’s parliament was dissolved for the second time in five months Saturday and new elections called for November as the Himalayan country battled political turmoil amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
President Bidhya Devi Bhandari made the order after declaring that neither Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli nor Sher Bahadur Deuba, leader of the opposition Nepali Congress, had a majority to form a new government.
Bhandari dissolved parliament in the early hours of Saturday after a new breakdown in talks. “The president... has dissolved the current House of Representatives and fixed the first phase of general elections on November 12 and the second phase on November 19,” his office said in a statement.
Oli was reappointed the prime minister only last week as no leader could muster a majority after the veteran communist lost a vote of cownfidence.
The 69-year-old had a month to win a new vote of confidence in parliament but the president called on other parties to try to form a government as Oli struggled to win support.
Political rivalries between the communist PM and his former Maoist allies hit a new peak as the country battles a severe Covid-19 wave. Authorities have been reporting about 200 deaths a day, but experts say there are a lot more and the United Nations has launched an emergency Covid-19 appeal saying that Nepal is at “breaking point”.
KATHMANDU: Nepal plunged into fresh political turmoil on Saturday as President Bidya Devi Bhandari dissolved parliament and fixed general elections in November amid a worsening Covid-19 outbreak.
The surprise announcement comes after a presidential statement said neither the caretaker Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, nor opposition leader Sher Bahadur Deuba were able to demonstrate a majority to form a new government by the Friday deadline set by Bhandari.
“The president has dissolved the House of Representatives and ordered the first phase of general elections on November 12 and the second phase on November 19,” a presidential statement issued after midnight said. It said the decision was made on the recommendation of the cabinet headed by caretaker Prime Minister Oli, whose December 2020 dissolution of parliament sparked weeks of protests and was reversed by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional in February.
The opposition says Oli, who had lost a vote of confidence this month, has no legal authority to recommend the dissolution of the parliament.
Five opposition leaders said in a joint statement the prime minister had pushed the country into a serious problem at a time when people were suffering and dying due to the coronavirus pandemic. Prakash Sharan Mahat, a senior leader of the opposition Nepali Congress party said they will launch a political and legal fight against the move.
Nepal is battling a deadly second wave of the pandemic and is reporting more than 8,000 new infections each day.