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| Tuesday, 3 June 2003 |
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Nepal's major parties demand one of their own as new PM KATHMANDU, Monday (AFP) Leaders of Nepal's major political parties demanded the new prime minister come from their ranks, threatening more protests if King Gyanendra again sidelines them. One leader said the parties' choice to succeed Lokendra Bahadur Chand as prime minister was Madhav Kumar Nepal, the main opposition leader in the parliament dissolved last year. "To solve the current crisis, we the five political parties have mutually agreed to elect Madhav Kumar Nepal, leader of the Nepal Communist Party-United Marxist and Leninist (NCP-UML), to head the new government succeeding Chand," said Amik Sherchan, chairman of another of the parties, the People's Front-Nepal. Chand, who was appointed in October when the king sacked the elected government, resigned Friday saying he wanted to pave the way for reconciliation. But leaders of the five major parties said the choice of the next prime minister was up to them and not Gyanendra, with whom they held talks at the palace late Friday. "The new prime minister should not be nominated by the king but be elected by the five political parties represented in the dissolved parliament," said Bharat Mohan Adhikari, a senior leader of Madhav Kumar Nepal's NCP-UML. "So long as the king does not fulfill our demands we will continue our struggle against his repressive move of October 4," Adhikari told reporters. The parties, which have been holding daily strategy sessions on the formation of the next government, claimed credit for Chand's resignation. "We forced Chand to resign through our three weeks of political protests across the country," Adhikari said. The political parties held a number of street demonstrations last month against Gyanendra and Wednesday took advantage of the international attention on the 50th anniversary of Mount Everest's conquest to declare the dissolved parliament reopened. Madhav Kumar Nepal is a political veteran who was deputy prime minister from 1994-95. In a show of strength, more than 7,000 activists of his NCP-UML held a protest in Kathmandu to denounce Gyanendra. Chanting "Down with the king's regressive actions" and "Long live democracy", the demonstrators obstructed traffic in parts of Kathmandu for more than three hours, police said. Meanwhile more than 3,000 people held a peace march in Kathmandu calling for lasting peace between the government and Maoist rebels. Fourteen human rights organizations took part in the peaceful demonstration, with similar marches held elsewhere in the kingdom. The marchers called for "durable peace and security for all Nepalese." |
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