Nepal PM resigns, triggering new political crisis

Nepal's Prime Minister resigned on Sunday, plunging the country into a fresh political crisis with competing parties unable to implement a national peace plan or form a stable government.

Jhalanath Khanal, chairman of Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) party, submitted his resignation to the country's president after talks with other party leaders collapsed, his press adviser Surya Thapa told AFP.

"He tried to forge a consensus until the last minute. But the parties failed to agree on constitution-drafting and the peace process, so he has resigned," Thapa said.

Nepal emerged from 10 years of civil war in 2006 but lawmakers elected to write a new constitution have failed to reach a consensus on the new charter amid a series of shaky coalition administrations.

The impoverished Himalayan nation was without a prime minister for seven months until Khanal took office in February, and the parliamentary deadlock could return following his departure. The Maoists, who fought government forces between 1996 and 2006, are the biggest party in parliament after winning 2008 elections under Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known by his nom de guerre, Prachanda ("the fierce one").

Khanal, 60, headed a fragile coalition government of three parties, including the Maoists, but he had said he would resign unless a deal was reached to advance the peace process.

Jhalak Subedi, editor of the monthly political magazine Mulyankan, said the centrist Nepali Congress, the second-largest party in the parliament, was likely to lead the next coalition administration.

"But I don't think that the next government will last more than three months," he said. "The whole process has been slowed down by radicals within the Maoist party who are blocking any moves forward in the peace process."

Subedi warned that continued political turmoil could lead to more serious unrest as public anger grows.

AFP