Former Maoist guerilla who oversaw a ten-year uprising against Nepal’s Hindu monarchy was again made prime minister.
With the backing of the opposition and a few other smaller groupings, he will lead the new administration for the first two years of the five-year tenure. After last month’s election resulted in a hung parliament, a former Maoist guerilla who oversaw a ten-year insurgency against Nepal’s Hindu monarchy was named prime minister for a third time on Sunday in an alliance with the main opposition.
According to party officials, Pushpa Kamal Dahal will lead the new administration for the first two years of the five-year term with the backing of the opposition Communist Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML) party and a few other smaller organizations. Pushpa Kamal Dahal continues to go by the moniker Prachanda, which means “terrible” or “fierce,” in Nepali.
President Bidhya Devi Bhandari’s aide, Tika Dhakal, told Reuters that the new speaker “commands the support of a large majority of parliament” and that he has been selected. According to local media, Prachanda, who succeeds Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress party, will leave office in 2025 to make room for the UML to assume the position. “This is the comprehension. After a meeting of the new coalition, Dev Gurung, the general secretary of Prachanda’s Maoist Centre party, told Reuters that there was still work to be done in distributing important other offices and ministries.
A few hours after Prachanda, 68, unexpectedly quit the ruling coalition headed by Deuba of the Nepali Congress party, the new coalition assumes power. Deuba declined to support Prachanda for the position of prime minister. Both Deuba and Prachanda ran for office in November on the promise to maintain the previous collaboration for a number of years.
The Maoist Centre party of Prachanda won 32 seats in the House of Representatives, which has 275 members. The remaining seats, needed for the 138-majority, will be controlled by smaller organizations. The UML now holds 78 seats.
The primary opposition, which will hold 89 seats, will be the Nepali Congress party.
According to analysts, Prachanda’s large coalition of allies made it improbable that it would bring peace to the nation. He also has significant financial difficulties. The level of inflation is over 8%, the highest in six years. Being sandwiched between China and India, Nepal also has to deal with declining foreign exchange reserves and a growing reliance on imports of essential products.
Political uncertainty will discourage investment and enterprises, therefore it is unlikely that the economy will grow, according to former central bank governor Deependra Bahadur Kshetri, who spoke to Reuters.
Since the 239-year-old monarchy was overthrown in 2008, there have been ten government transitions in Nepal.
