Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal delivers a speech before a confidence vote at the parliament in Kathmandu, Nepal, July 12, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ on Friday lost his vote of confidence, leading to the fall of his one-and-a-half-year-old government.
Prachanda, 69, had sought a vote of confidence after his coalition partner, the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist), on July 3 withdrew its support to the government.
After Friday’s vote, Speaker Devraj Ghimire announced that of the 258 parliamentarians present, 63 voted in the Prime Minister’s favour while 194 voted against. One lawmaker abstained. In the 275-member Parliament, 138 votes are needed to prove the majority.
President Ram Chandra Poudel on Friday called on parties to present a claim, latest by 5 p.m. Sunday, to form a new government.
CPN-UML leader K.P. Sharma Oli, smiles ahead of the confidence vote at the parliament in Kathmandu, Nepal on July 12, 2024.
| Photo Credit:
Reuters
As per a deal reached between the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML, the two largest parties in Parliament with 88 and 78 seats, respectively, the UML’s K.P. Sharma Oli is set to stake a claim to the government.
Earlier in the day, Prachanda said in Parliament he was betrayed by the UML and that a government by the two largest forces in Parliament was a threat to democracy.
“I am worried about regression and authoritarianism,” he said. “An alliance of two largest parties fuels anarchy and weakens democracy.”
