Nepalese Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli arrived to ask for a vote of confidence in parliament in Kathmandu, Nepal, on July 21, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Nepal’s newly appointed Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli comfortably won a vote of confidence in Parliament on July 22, nearly a week after he was sworn in to lead a coalition government in the Himalayan nation.

Mr. Oli secured 188 votes in favour of the Vote of Confidence motion tabled by him while 74 votes were cast against the motion. Out of a total of 263 members of the House of Representatives, who were present, one member abstained.

Mr. Oli, 72, required 138 votes out of a total of 275 votes to pass the floor test in the House of Representatives (HoR).

Prime Minister Oli has won the vote of confidence in the Lower House, Speaker of the HoR Dev Raj Ghimire announced after the counting of votes.

As the Parliament meeting started, Prime Minister Oli tabled the motion seeking a vote of confidence from the House.

Speaker Ghimire gave around two hours for HoR members and representatives from ruling and Opposition parties to discuss the motion. He then allotted time for the Prime Minister to give his response to the issues raised by HoR members.

The voting process started after the Prime Minister concluded his deliberations.

Responding to issues raised by the HoR members Mr. Oli said, “I was not and will not get involved in corruption neither will tolerate if any one practices so.”

He said that the two larger parties “Nepali Congress and CPN-UML came together to maintain political stability, checking corruption and bring good governance.”

“This coalition government will create a reliable eco-system for stability, development and good governance,” asserted Mr. Oli.

House of Representatives members belonging to the ruling alliance Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, Lokatantrik Samajwadi Party and Janata Samajwadi Party Nepal were among those who voted in favour of Oli’s Vote of Confidence motion.

Opposition parties CPN-Maoist Centre, CPN-Unified Socialist, Rashtriya Swotantra Party and Rastriya Prajatantra Party among others voted against Mr. Oli during the floor test.

The veteran Communist leader was sworn in on Monday as the Himalayan nation’s prime minister for the fourth time. He was administered the oath of office and secrecy along with 21 other members of the Cabinet.

According to Nepal’s Constitution, Mr. Oli needed to secure a vote of confidence from Parliament within 30 days of appointment.

The Chairman of the CPN-UML, Nepal’s largest communist party was appointed as prime minister on Sunday by President Ram Chandra Paudel to lead the coalition government with the Nepali Congress (NC), the largest party in Parliament, apart from other smaller parties.

Mr. Oli succeeded Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda,’ who lost the vote of confidence in the House of Representatives on July 12.

It is Mr. Oli’s fourth term as Prime Minister.

The CPN-UML Chairman now leads the new coalition government that faces the daunting challenge of providing political stability in the Himalayan nation.

Nepal has faced frequent political turmoil as the country has seen 14 governments in the past 16 years after the introduction of the Republican system.

Kathmandu:

K P Sharma Oli on Monday was sworn in as Nepal’s Prime Minister for the fourth time to lead a new coalition government that faces the daunting challenge of providing political stability in the Himalayan nation.

The leader of Nepal’s largest communist party was appointed as prime minister on Sunday by President Ram Chandra Paudel to lead the coalition government with Nepali Congress (NC), the largest party in Parliament, apart from other smaller parties.

Oli, 72, succeeds Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda,’ who lost the vote of confidence in the House of Representatives (HoR) on Friday, leading to the formation of the new government.

Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), Oli was sworn in by President Paudel at Shital Niwas, the main building of Rashtrapati Bhawan at a ceremony that was delayed by more than half an hour.

According to the news portal MyRepublica, the swearing-in ceremony was delayed due to the failure of the Nepali Congress to finalise the names of its ministers to join the government amid disputes within the party.

The President also administered oaths to the two Deputy PMs – Prakash Man Singh and Bishnu Paudel – and 19 other ministers. Singh would also look after the Urban Development Ministry while Vishnu Prakash Paudel would look after the Finance Ministry.

Arzoo Rana Deuba, wife of Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba is the Foreign Minister in the cabinet.

There are 10 cabinet ministers from Nepali Congress; eight, excluding PM, from CPN-UML, two from Janata Samajwadi Party and one from Lokatantrik Samajwadi Party in the government.

Outgoing Prime Minister Prachanda was also present at the ceremony, which was attended by foreign diplomats and other dignitaries.

Earlier on Sunday, President Paudel had appointed Oli as the new Prime Minister under Article 76-2 of the Constitution of Nepal, according to a notice issued by the President’s Office.

On Friday night, Oli had staked his claim to become the next Prime Minister with the backing of NC President Deuba and submitted the signatures of 165 House of Representatives (HoR) members — 77 from his Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) party and 88 from the Nepali Congress. (NC).

Oli will now need to secure a vote of confidence from Parliament within 30 days of appointment, which he is likely to secure easily as the minimum number to form a government in the 275-strong HoR is just 138.

Prachanda faced the vote of confidence as earlier last week, Oli’s party withdrew its support to that coalition and inked a new seven-point deal with Deuba to form a new coalition government.

According to the July 1 deal between NC and CPN-UML, the two parties will lead the government on a rotational basis until the next general elections scheduled for 2027.

Oli served as Nepal’s prime minister from October 11, 2015, to August 3, 2016 and then, from February 5, 2018, to July 13, 2021. He continued to serve from May 13, 2021, to July 13, 2021 — because of an appointment by the then President Bidya Devi Bhandari, described by local media as a success of Oli’s Machiavellian tricks. Later, the Supreme Court ruled that Oli’s claim to the post of prime minister was unconstitutional.

Nepal has faced frequent political turmoil as the country has seen 14 governments in the past 16 years after the Republican system was introduced.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Beijing/Kathmandu:

China and Nepal on Monday signed 12 agreements, including seven MoUs, to enhance bilateral cooperation in sectors including trade, road connectivity, and information technology after Premier Li Qiang and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” held wide-ranging talks in Beijing.

During the meeting, the two leaders comprehensively reviewed the bilateral relations and expressed satisfaction over the close and cordial ties subsisting between the two countries, according to a press release issued by the Nepal embassy in Beijing.

The two sides exchanged views on the ways to further strengthen and consolidate the mutual understanding and cooperation and give a new impetus in the front of economy, trade and people-to-people contacts, it said, two days after Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Prachanda in Hangzhou on the sidelines of the Asian Games being held in the eastern Chinese city.

Prachanda, who politically distanced from the pro-China Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) headed by KP Oli after becoming Prime Minister in December last year, made his maiden visit to China after visiting India and the US.

Following the official bilateral talks, 12 agreements were signed between the two countries, the Nepalese embassy said.

The agreements include an MoU for Cooperation between The National Planning Commission of Nepal and China’s National Development and Reform Commission; an MoU on enhancing digital economy co-operation; an MoU related to cooperation on green and low-carbon development; and an MoU on cooperation in the field of agriculture, livestock and fisheries, the release said.

The two sides also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the establishment of a Joint Technical Working Group for the review and modification of the Nepal-China trade and payment agreement.

They also signed a protocol of phytosanitary requirements for the export of plant-derived medicinal materials for Chinese medicine from Nepal to China.

China and Nepal also signed MoUs on the Hilsa-Simkot Road Project and the Nepal-China Power Grid Interconnection Project (Chilime-Kerung).

The other agreements include cooperation in the fields of science, technology and innovation; and in the field of Human Resources Development, the release said.

Prachanda also met with National People’s Congress Chairman Zhao Leji during which they focused on further broadening the historical ties between Nepal and China and promoting exchange of high-level visits, it said.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Prachanda met Chinese President Xi.

“Had a fruitful meeting with Xi Jinping, President of PR China. We exchanged views on a range of issues of bilateral relations and cooperation in our mutual interests. We agreed to collaborate closely and advance Nepal-China relations to strengthen ever-lasting friendship,” Prachanda said in a post on platform X after the meeting.

Prachanda has directly flown to China from New York, where he addressed the 78th General Assembly of the United Nations.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)