A new coalition government is going to be formed in the South Asian country of Nepal. A new coalition government is being formed after Prime Minister and former Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal lost the ‘confidence vote’ in Parliament on Friday (July 12). The new government will be headed by former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
According to news agency Reuters, Pushpa Kamal Dahal formed the government in December 2022. Then he became the Prime Minister of Nepal for the third time. He then had to change alliances three times to maintain power. And five times the Parliament has to face a vote of confidence. He lost the confidence vote for the fifth time on Friday.
UML party lawmaker Yogesh Bhattarai said yesterday that a new coalition government was needed to restore political stability in the country.
Through this, it is expected that the ongoing political deadlock in Nepal for 20 months will be resolved.
Since the end of the 239-year-old monarchy in Nepal in 2008, there has been political instability and uncertainty in democratic Nepal. If KP Sharma Oli forms the new government, it will be the 14th democratic government in the country after 2008.
The dynamics of Nepal’s politics are always closely monitored by its two big neighbours, India and China. These two countries have major investments in Nepal bordering the Himalayas. Delhi and Beijing want to influence Nepal and Nepalese politics.
One of the largest coalition partners, the Liberal Communist Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) party, withdrew support from Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s government last week amid political uncertainty. The team is led by KP Sharma Oli.
The situation then became such that two options were open before the 69-year-old Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Either he has to leave the post of the head of the government, or he has to prove his majority in the parliament. Pushpakamal Dahal chose the second option.
KP Sharma Oli was the Prime Minister of Nepal twice before. In late June, he struck a deal with the moderate Nepali Congress (NC). This paves the way for the alliance to gain majority in Parliament. Since then it was understood that KP Sharma Oli will form a new government.
However, there is no word on when the new coalition government led by KP Sharma Oli will take over after Pushpa Kamal Dahal lost the trust vote in Parliament on Friday.
Former Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal needed a minimum of 138 votes in the 275-seat parliament to go to the polls. 258 members were present in the parliament on Friday. Among them only 63 people voted for Pushpa Kamal Dahal. And 194 voted against. The other one abstained from voting.
Parliament Speaker Deb Raj Ghimire announced after counting the ballots that Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had been rejected in a vote of confidence. Dahl will now remain in office under the caretaker government until a parliamentary vote is held to elect the next prime minister.
The Nepali Congress is the largest political party in the country’s parliament. And UML is in the second position. These two parties will now form a coalition government in Nepal.
