Nepal President seeks majority govt to end crisis

NEPAL: The President of Nepal on Sunday called for the country’s political parties to form a majority government, in a bid to end a crisis triggered by the resignation of the Prime Minister. Pushpa Kamal Dahal known as Prachanda stepped down last week after failing in his bid to sack the head of the army, whom he accused of refusing to enact reforms following elections last year that brought the Maoists to power.

President Ram Baran Yadav’s secretary said he had asked the nation’s “parties to form a government on simple majority after they failed to meet the deadline to form a new government based on national political consensus.”

“As per the interim constitution, the prime minister shall now be elected by a simple majority by lawmakers in parliament.”

The president had earlier set a deadline of Saturday midnight for all of Nepal’s political factions to unite in government, but no agreement was reached.

It was not immediately clear how a majority could be formed as the Maoists, who won 40 percent of the seats in the elections, have refused to join negotiations.

The Nepali Congress and the Communist UML the second and third-largest parties in parliament are thought unlikely to be able to attract the allies needed to form a coalition government.

Even if they did build a ruling alliance, any government without the Maoists would face the threat of a return to the instability seen during the civil war.

At the centre of the dispute between the army and the Maoists is the fate of 19,000 former Maoist rebel fighters, who are currently confined to United Nations-supervised camps.

Prachanda demanded they were integrated into the national army to cement the peace process but the army refused, saying the guerrillas could never become non-partisan soldiers. The Maoist leader on Sunday stuck by his surprise resignation, and attacked Nepal’s giant neighbour India for its alleged support of the army.

“I am proud of my resignation. It has been a missile against foreign brokers and their interference, regressive and national-capitulating forces,” he told the state-run Rising Nepal newspaper.

Kathmandu, AFP