Nepal's newly-appointed PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' wins vote of confidence in parliament

Kathmandu, Jan 10: Nepal's newly-appointed Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' won a vote of confidence in the parliament on Tuesday. Prachanda said that he wanted to take forward politics of consensus, cooperation and mutual trust rather than the politics of negation, disrespect and vengeance as he sought a vote of confidence in the House of Representatives.

The 68-year-old CPN-Maoist Centre leader was sworn in as the Prime Minister for the third time on December 26 after he dramatically walked out of the pre-poll alliance led by the Nepali Congress and joined hands with opposition leader K P Sharma Oli.

Nepal's first Parliament session after the appointment of Prime Minister Prachanda began here on Monday.

Speaking at the lower house, Prachanda said that he wanted to take forward politics of consensus, cooperation and mutual trust rather than the politics of negation, disrespect and vengeance as the Prime Minister, the Himalayan Times reported.

The Prime Minister said that he as the head of the government wished to give the world a message of national unity in Nepal and pledged to remain dedicated to his duties and responsibilities and give something new to the people. Prachanda needs 138 votes in the 275-member parliament to continue his term as the prime minister.

Meanwhile, the Nepali Congress - the largest political party in parliament with 89 seats - in a surprise move decided to support Prachanda. Prime Minister Prachanda on Monday met Nepali Congress chief Sher Bahadur Deuba and sought his support in parliament. A key meeting of the party held on Tuesday afternoon decided to vote in favour of the trust motion but not to join the government, Mahendra Yadav, the party's joint general secretary, was quoted as saying by the Kathmandu Post newspaper.

"We have decided to give a vote of confidence to this government to protect the constitution," Yadav said. However, four lawmakers, including two general secretaries, have opposed the decision made by Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba to caste vote in favour of the government.

The NC and CPN (Maoist Center) had forged an electoral alliance for the parliamentary election held on November 20. But after the NC reportedly declined the post of the prime minister to Prachanda as agreed before, the Maoist Center in a rather surprising move forged an alliance with the CPN-UML to form a new government.

In the 275-member House of Representatives, the NC has 89 lawmakers, while the UML has 79 lawmakers.

Similarly, CPN (Maoist Center), CPN (Unified Socialist) and Rashtriya Swatantra Party have 32, 10 and 20 members, respectively. Janamat Party has 6 members, Loktantrik Samajbadi Party 4 and Nagarik Unmukti Party 3 members in the parliament.

Prachanda was appointed as prime minister with the support of 169 lawmakers including UML, Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP), Janta Samajwadi Party (JSP), Janamat Party, Nagarik Unmukti Party and three independent lawmakers, as per Article 76(2) of the Constitution of Nepal. Talking to reporters on Monday, Prachanda had said that he is confident of getting a vote of confidence.

"Not only am I confident of getting a vote of confidence, I believe that the entire House will stand united on the vote of confidence."

As per the power-sharing deal reached between the UML and the Maoist Center before Dahal's appointment as the new prime minister, UML will have its candidates elected as the president and speaker of the House of Representatives.

Citing sources, the paper said that there has been an agreement to hold the post of speaker for the first two and half years by the UML and the remaining term by the Maoist Center candidate. After the vote of confidence, the process of electing the Speaker and Deputy Speaker will get underway. According to constitutional provisions, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker should be elected within 15 days of the first parliamentary meeting.