[ODUNEWS] January 10 – Following a hung vote in a general election in November of last year, Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as Prachanda, easily won a vote of confidence on Tuesday. This solidified his position as leader.
After the polling, Pashupati Shamsher Rana, the oldest congressman, informed the parliament that the 68-year-old Prachanda had received 268 votes, surpassing the 138 needed, with just two votes against him. Prachanda has already held the position twice.
Rana presided over House proceedings as the senior-most representative until the speaker and deputy speakers were chosen.
Three legislators were not present, and one was suspended.
The largest political party in Nepal, Nepali Congress, unexpectedly opted to back Prachanda, showing that politics is still in a precarious state.
Nepal has had 33 governments in 32 years since it became a parliamentary democracy in the 1990s and a republic in 2008.
According to political analyst Vijay Kant Karna, the Nepali Congress’ decision to support the ruling party is a sign of political anarchy.
“There is no opposition since the Nepali Congress supports the ruling party. It is evident that democracy is weakened if there is no opposition party to exert pressure on the ruling party, according to Karna.
The actual democratic culture is completely violated by this.
In a pre-election partnership with former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, the leader of the Nepali Congress, was Prachanda, who formerly oversaw the ten-year civil war that claimed the lives of over 17,000 people.
The Nepali Congress won the largest number of seats in the general election held on November 20 last year.
However, Prachanda walked out of the alliance at the last moment, after Deuba turned down his demand for the prime minister’s post.
With the support of seven parties and three independent candidates, Prachanda, the chairman of the Maoist Center, was appointed as Nepal’s 44th prime minister on December 25.
He was sworn in as the prime minister for the third time on December 26.
Before the vote of confidence, Prachanda said the grievances of the people and the problem that the country was facing should be sorted out in unity. “It doesn’t matter if it’s ruling or the opposition party.”
