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Nepal’s PM Prachanda Loses Confidence Vote
Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ lost a vote of confidence in Parliament on Friday after the CPN-UML, a coalition partner, withdrew its support. This move paves the way for a new government led by former premier K P Sharma Oli.
Prachanda secured only 63 votes in the 275-member House of Representatives (HoR), while 194 members voted against him. To win the vote of confidence, at least 138 votes were required. Out of the 258 members who participated in the voting, one member abstained.
Prachanda, aged 69 and chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre (CPN-MC), has survived four previous trust votes since taking office on December 25, 2022. His government fell when the CPN-UML, led by former prime minister Oli, withdrew support after striking a power-sharing agreement with the largest party in the House, the Nepali Congress (NC).
Speaker of the HoR, Dev Raj Ghimire, conducted the vote of confidence according to Article 100 Clause 2 of the Constitution. After the voting, he announced that Prachanda’s motion was defeated by a majority vote. The Speaker will inform President Ram Chandra Paudel, who will then invite two or more political parties to form a new government as per Article 76 Clause 2 of the Constitution.
This situation enables the NC and the CPN-UML to establish a new coalition government. The NC holds 89 seats in the HoR, and the CPN-UML has 78 seats, giving them a combined total of 167 seats, significantly more than the 138 needed for a majority in the lower house.
NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba has already endorsed Oli as the next prime minister. Deuba and Oli reached a seven-point agreement on Monday to form a new coalition, thereby toppling Prachanda’s government. According to this agreement, Oli will serve as Prime Minister for the first one and a half years, after which Deuba will take over for the remainder of the term.
Prachanda, whose party holds 32 seats in the HoR, was elected Prime Minister for the third time on December 25, 2022, with CPN-UML support. He was elected under Article 76 Clause 2 of the Constitution of Nepal, which allows for the election of a Prime Minister with the support of two or more parties.
At the start of the HoR session, Prachanda criticized the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML for their alliance, accusing them of acting out of fear rather than shared principles and pushing the nation towards regression. He expressed concerns about the potential for regression and autocracy, claiming that the NC and CPN-UML united because good governance was beginning to take root in the country.
