Nepal’s Prime Minister wins parliamentary trust vote, third in 14 months
He switched allies this month saying he was not given a free hand (File)
Kathmandu, Nepal:
Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal won a parliamentary confidence vote on Wednesday, a week after forming his third coalition in more than a year to lead a government dominated by liberal communists.
Mr Dahal, a former Maoist guerrilla leader in the Himalayan nation located between China and India, formed a coalition cabinet last year involving the Nepali Congress Party and other smaller groups.
He switched allies this month, saying he was not given a free hand.
The new cabinet is dominated by the moderate Nepal Communist Party (UML) and includes several other smaller groups. He also briefly led an alliance with the UML after the 2022 elections.
Parliament Speaker Dev Raj Ghimire said Dahal won 157 votes against the required 138 in the 275-member parliament, while 110 MPs voted against him.
“I have been let down several times… and forced to form a new coalition cabinet, which is a routine political exercise,” Mr Dahal said in Parliament on Wednesday, referring to the Nepali Congress, now the main opposition party. It’s a process.” ,
After the split last week, Nepali Congress had said that the Prime Minister had betrayed it by removing it from the cabinet without any notice.
Dahal led a decade-long insurgency from 1996 that resulted in 17,000 deaths, before being included in mainstream politics under a 2006 peace accord under UN supervision.
He is serving as Prime Minister for the third time but could not complete the full five-year term during his previous tenure.
Nepal has had 13 governments since it abolished the 239-year-old monarchy and became a republic in 2008.
Instability has hindered the growth of the $40 billion economy and thousands of young Nepalese are moving abroad for work – mainly to the Middle East, South Korea and Malaysia.
Nepal has extensive social and economic relations with India, its major donor. China is also providing aid and investing in infrastructure to woo Kathmandu as an ally.
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