Kathmandu | Nepal President Ram Chandra Paudel on Friday called on political parties to stake claim to form the new government with a Sunday evening deadline to prove the majority, hours after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ failed to secure a trust vote in Parliament.
“President Paudel called on members of the House of Representatives (HoR) to stake a claim for the post of prime minister showing a majority with the support of two or more political parties in the lower house,” a statement from the Office of Paudel said.
The President has called on the House members to present the majority through the support of parties represented in the lower house by 5 pm on Sunday, it added.
Earlier, after Prachanda lost the trust vote, the President asked him to hold the fort as a caretaker till a new government was in place. The development is expected to pave the way to the formation of a new coalition government led by former prime minister K P Sharma Oli, 72.
Prachanda lost the vote of confidence in the House of Representatives (HoR) earlier in the evening as he received only 63 votes in the 275-member House of Representatives (HoR) with 194 votes against the motion. At least 138 votes are needed to win the vote of trust.
A total of 258 HoR members participated in the voting while one member chose no vote.
Prachanda, 69, chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre (CPN-MC), faced the trust vote as Oli-led Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) withdrew support from his government last week after inking a power-sharing deal with the largest party in the House – the Nepali Congress (NC) – led by Sher Bahadur Deuba.
The President’s call for the formation of the new government came after the Speaker of the HoR Dev Raj Ghimire informed him that Prime Minister Pushpakamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ lost a floor test in the House Friday afternoon.
President Paudel consulted with constitutional and legal experts in the wake of Prachanda's failure to secure a trust vote, thereby creating constitutional responsibility on the former to summon political parties for the formation of a new government.
In the meantime, NC and CPN-UML are busy in preparation for submitting their claim to form a new coalition government as soon as the President calls for the formation of a new government.
The NC has 89 seats in the HoR, while CPN-UML has 78. Their combined strength of 167 is much more than the 138 required for a majority in the lower house.
Deuba has already endorsed Oli as the next prime minister as per the 7-point deal both parties agreed upon on Monday before toppling Prachanda-led government.
According to the agreement, Oli and Deuba will share the premiership during the remaining period of the House of Representatives; in the first phase Oli will become the Prime Minister for one and a half years and then, Deuba will take the seat for the rest of the period.
