Nepal Parliament to elect Prime Minister on Friday

Shirish B Pradhan

Kathmandu, Aug 11 (PTI) Nepal's Parliament will elect on
Friday the country's new Prime Minister after being directed
by the President to initiate the government formation process
through a majority vote in the wake of Maoists' repeated
failure to forge consensus among key parties on the issue.

The Parliament Working Procedure Management Committee has
decided to hold the election of Prime Minister on Friday,
according to sources in the Constituent Assembly.

The nominations for the top post will be accepted on
Thursday, they said.

In the 601-strong assembly, to get their candidate
elected as Prime Minister, any combination of political
parties would need the magic number of 301 votes.

After the Maoists, who had emerged the top group in the
April 10 polls, failed to form an all-party consensus
government under Article 38(1) of the Constitution, President
Ram Baran Yadav called for initiating the process of
government formation through majority voting in the
Constituent Assembly as per the article 38(2).

However, a detailed election programme is yet to be
announced.

The major parties had failed to reach consensus on
government formation after the Maoists rejected the Nepali
Congress' demand for the defence portfolio.

The parties have now intensified consultations in order
to field a consensus candidate so that Prime Minister could be
elected unopposed and a government involving all major groups
could be formed, said CPN-UML central member Shanker Pokharel.

"Although the Maoists can form a majority government with
the support from the CPN-UML, we want that a government based
on national consensus be formed with the inclusion all major
political parties including the Nepali Congress," he said.

It seems that the Maoists are not interested in giving
any major portfolio to the Nepali Congress, which has blocked
the process of forming a consensus government, he said.