Nepal’s PM ‘Prachanda’ set to take vote of confidence in Parliament today, parties remain undecided

Nepal PM and vote of confidence: Prachanda last month broke off a democratic-communist alliance forging another alliance with CPN-UML (Communist Party of Nepal- Unified Marxist Leninist) and five other parties along with 2 other independent lawmakers.

Kathmandu: Nepal`s newly appointed Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda is set to test the floor of parliament on Tuesday amid the uncertainty whether the parties on board will vote for him or not. Dahal who is attempting for a whopping majority in the parliament has been attempting to ensure more votes in his favor and is also trying to woo the opposition to increase vote in favor. 

Prachanda last month broke off a democratic-communist alliance forging another alliance with CPN-UML (Communist Party of Nepal- Unified Marxist Leninist) and five other parties along with 2 other independent lawmakers. 

Late on Monday evening, Dahal reached out to the opposition Nepali Congress President and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba seeking support on Tuesday`s vote of confidence. Nepali Congress has a total of 88 seats in the parliament after one of the lawmakers from the party was removed from the post provided his criminal background. 

As per the officials aware of the matter, Deuba has promised to help Dahal but gave no concrete answer. The Nepali Congress being the largest party has again sidelined opposition after Dahal broke off the five-party alliance and headed for another six-party alliance.

"The two leaders held a discussion about it but the final decision of the Nepali Congress will be made only on Monday morning. A meeting of the Parliamentary Committee to decide on vote of confidence has been called on for 9 AM (Local Time) on Tuesday morning," Purna Bahadur Khadka, Vice President of Nepali Congress said over the phone. 

With time running out, Dahal is making all possible efforts to get votes from the parties representing in the parliament amid speculation that he might lose the vote of confidence. The CPN-Unified Socialist (CPN-US) led by another former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal which failed to be a national party but owns 10 seats is still undecided about today`s vote of confidence. Like CPN-US, the Nagarik Unmukti Party which had supported Dahal as Prime Minister on Monday`s first parliamentary meeting chaired the opposition bench and has stated that they are 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 in the house session for the vote of confidence on Tuesday. Oli on Monday itself had sent out a directive to all its members of the house to mandatorily be present on the day of the vote of confidence. 

Notably, Prachanda and Oli have struck an agreement to govern the country on a rotational basis, with Oli agreeing to make Prachanda Prime Minister first as per the latter`s demand. In the new coalition, the CPN-UML has 79, Maoist Center 32, Rastriya Swatantra Party20, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) 14, Janata Samajbadi Party 12, Janamat Party 6 and Nagarik Unmukti Party has four MPs. 

Two independent lawmakers are also supporting Prachanda. The RPP also remains undecided about today`s vote of confidence.

In case the government fails to get endorsed then the President should give another chance to garner a majority and upon repeated failure, the President can dissolve the House of Representatives and call for another election within 6 months.

Dahal would need to cross the mark of 50 percent of the 275-seated parliament to remain in power for the promised term.