kathmanduNepal’s newly appointed Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda is set to be tested in Parliament on Tuesday amid uncertainty over whether the parties on board will vote him out. Dahal, who is striving for a thumping majority in Parliament, is trying to ensure more votes in his favor and also trying to woo the opposition to increase votes in his favour.
Prachanda broke a democratic-communist alliance last month by forming another alliance with CPN-UML (Communist Party of Nepal- Unified Marxist Leninist) and five other parties along with 2 other independent MPs.
Late on Monday, Dahal reached out to the opposition Nepali Congress president and former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to seek his support on Tuesday’s trust vote. The Nepali Congress has a total of 88 seats in the parliament after one of the party’s legislators was removed from office after providing his criminal background.
According to officials with knowledge of the matter, Deuba had promised to help Dahal, but did not give a concrete answer. The Nepali Congress, being the single largest party, again sidelined the opposition after Dahal broke a five-party alliance and led another six-party alliance.
He said, ‘Both the leaders discussed it but the final decision of the Nepali Congress will be taken only on Monday morning. A meeting of the parliamentary committee has been called at 9 am (local time) on Tuesday to decide on the trust vote. Morning,” Nepali Congress vice-president Purna Bahadur Khadka said over the phone.
With time running out, Dahal is making every effort to garner votes from parties represented in parliament, amid speculation he may lose the vote of confidence. Another former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal-led CPN-Unified Socialist (CPN-US) which failed to become a national party but owns 10 seats, is still undecided about today’s trust vote. Like the CPN-US, the Nagrik Immunity Party, which endorsed Dahal as prime minister at Monday’s first parliamentary meeting, chaired the opposition bench and said they have yet to decide on the vote.
The CPN-UML, led by former prime minister KP Sharma Oli, has directed all its members to be present at the House session for the trust vote on Tuesday. On Monday itself, Oli had sent instructions to all the members of the House to compulsorily be present on the day of the trust vote.
Notably, Prachanda and Oli have entered into an agreement to rule the country by turns, with Oli agreeing to make Prachanda the first Prime Minister as demanded by the latter. The new alliance has 79 MPs from the CPN-UML, 32 from the Maoist Centre, 20 from the Rashtriya Swatantra Party, 14 from the Rashtriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), 12 from the Janata Samajwadi Party, 6 from the Janmat Party and four from the Civil Liberation Party.
Two independent MLAs are also supporting Prachanda. The RPP is also undecided about today’s trust vote.
If the government fails to garner support, the President must be given another chance to win a majority, and in case of repeated failures, the President can dissolve the House of Representatives and call for another election within 6 months.
Dahal would need to pass the 50 percent mark in the 275-seat parliament to remain in power for the promised term.