Deepak Adhikari
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AA) – Nepal’s lawmakers on Wednesday elected the chief of a former rebel party as the country’s new prime minister, in a move expected to resolve protests from minority groups.
The chairman of the Maoist party Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better known as Prachanda, secured a majority vote in the 595-member parliament.
“The total number of lawmakers present in the parliament today was 576. Those supporting Dahal’s candidacy for prime minister were in majority. 363 voted for Dahal while 210 voted against him,” Onsari Gharti Magar, the parliamentary speaker said.
“Therefore, I declare Pushpa Kamal Dahal the prime minister of Nepal,” she told lawmakers.
The 61-year-old remained unchallenged and was backed by Nepali Congress, the country’s largest party.
The Maoists were coalition partners in the previous government led K.P. Sharma Oli who heads the Unified Marxist-Leninists, the second largest party in the parliament, until they withdrew over a power-sharing deal, forcing the collapse of the government.
Addressing parliament before the vote on Wednesday, Dahal assured his predecessor there would not be any disruption for infrastructure projects initiated under the previous government.
“I would like to commit that the new government will move forward with development projects and even governments after mine will continue to do so,” he said. “Let’s unite for the development of our country and let’s find new solutions to our problems.”
Dahal, whose party waged a 10-year insurgency that claimed the lives of over 16,000 people, was once a formidable guerrilla leader but his force gave up arms in 2006 and entered into an ongoing peace process.
Sher Bahadur Deuba, the president of Nepali Congress, who supported Dahal’s bid for prime minister, headed a coalition government in 1996 when the rebels launched the armed insurgency.
This is not Dahal’s first time in the top job. In 2008, he became prime minister after an unprecedented win but resigned after nine months following differences with the country’s national army.
Nepal has been plagued by political instability following the promulgation of a post-war constitution a year ago, which triggered protests in its southern plains.
A key challenge for the new premier is to assuage the Madhesis, a minority group from the country’s southern plains who opposed the new constitution, calling it discriminatory.
The Madhesis accused Oli, the outgoing prime minister, of marginalizing them and suppressing the protests, which saw death of 50 people.
Another challenge awaiting Dahal is reconstruction of infrastructure damaged in last year’s devastating earthquakes.
