Process to elect president, PM to begin in Nepal

Kathmandu: The process to elect a new president, vice president, prime minister and Parliament speaker in Nepal in accordance with the constitution promulgated on September 20 will begin soon, an official said on Friday.

The first session of parliament after the adoption of the constitution started on Friday.

Nepal's Prime Minister Sushil Koirala will meet President Ram Baran Yadav later in the evening to urge him to start the process.

In a cabinet meeting, Koirala informed his cabinet colleagues that he will meet the Head of the State and ask him to initiate the process to form a new government as per Nepal's Constitution, Minister Lal Babu Pandit told IANS.

A new prime minister is expected to be confirmed within a week if consensus is arrived at among the major political parties, or else the president will call for a majority vote to elect the prime minister.

The new constitution stipulates that the prime minister is elected within seven days of the start of the House session.

The speaker and the deputy speaker have to be elected within 20 days, and the president and the vice president within a month.