Nepal: KP Oli stakes claim to become PM after Prachanda loses trust vote

CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli is set to become the prime minister once again after President Ramchandra Paudel invited a member of the House of Representatives who can secure a majority with the support of two or more parties to form government.

It may be mentioned here, that current Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' on Friday (Jul 12) failed to win a trust vote in Parliament after surviving four times in the past, amidst repeated political turmoil in the nation.

Despite the support of fringe parties such as the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP), JSP-Nepal, Loktantrik Samajbadi Party, Janamat Party, and Nagarik Unmukti Party for the Congress-UML coalition government, Oli staked his claim to the presidency showing only the support of UML and Congress.

Also read: Nepal PM Prachanda loses floor test, will step down after less than 20 months in power

Prime Minister Prachanda who is also the chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre (CPN-MC), faced the trust vote as Oli-led CPN-UML withdrew support from his government, after making a deal with the Nepali Congress (NC), the largest party in the House.

Prachanda failed to secure the 138 votes needed to endorse the trust motion as only 63 lawmakers voted in his favour in the 275 House of Representatives. A total of 194 lawmakers voted against him.

According to the July 1 deal between Congress chief Sher Bahadur Deuba and UML chair Oli, the two parties will lead the government on a rotational basis until the next general elections scheduled for 2027.

The first vote of confidence on January 10 last year resulted in extensive support for Prachanda when he got a staggering 99 per cent vote, the highest in the known history of Nepal's Parliament since the establishment of democracy.

Also read: All eyes on Nepal as new PM likely to take charge

A total of 268 parliamentarians out of 270 present in that meeting had voted in favour of Dahal, according to a report by the news agency PTI.

Within three months, Dahal dumped CPN-UML to walk out of government and aligned with Nepali Congress and secured a majority in the vote of confidence on March 20, 2023.

In the second round of the vote of confidence, Dahal got 172 votes out of 262 lawmakers present at the time of voting.

The third and the fourth rounds of the vote of confidence happened this year on March 13 and May 20.