The President of Nepal, Bidya Devi Bhandari, has appointed the Maoist communist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal as the new Prime Minister, a position he has held twice before, the last time five years ago, thus ending the political impasse established after the elections at the end of November.
Surprisingly, Dahal has been elected new Prime Minister, considering that his Communist Party-Maoist Center came third in the parliamentary elections of November 20. In the end, however, he was supported by 169 of the 275 deputies in the lower house of parliament.
Dahal claimed the post after it became known that he had the support of all the parties present in Parliament except for the Nepali Congress, which fell two seats short of a majority in the last elections, the Unified Socialist Communist Party and the Democratic Socialist Party.
Dahal has returned to power for the third time with the support of the Marxist-Leninist Communists — the main opposition force — and a dozen other minority parties, hours after he split from the ruling alliance led by outgoing Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.
Dahal is now expected to take the oath of office this Monday and within a month he will have to prove before Parliament that he has a sufficient majority to govern, reports the Nepalese daily ‘Kathmandu Post’.
Dahal’s appointment seems to give a respite to the always convulsive political situation of this small nation, surrounded by the two great giants of the Asian continent, China and India, which since 2008 has known a dozen governments.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
