Nepal PM Prachanda wins vote of confidence in Parliament

Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ on Wednesday secured a vote of confidence in Parliament, as the country struggled to maintain political stability amid the shifting of alliances.

Prachanda, 69, a former guerilla leader belonging to the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) -- the third largest party in the House of Representatives (HoR) --received 157 votes in the 275-member House of Representatives (HoR).

Altogether 268 MPs were present during the voting in the Parliament building at Naya Baneshwor in Kathmandu.

110 votes were cast against him while one lawmaker abstained from voting. Prachanda needed 138 votes to win the trust vote.

“The Prime Minister has won the vote of confidence,” announced Speaker Dev Raj Ghimire.

The vote comes days after the Maoist leader dumped the Nepali Congress and forged a new alliance with the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist).

This is the third time that Prachanda sought a vote of confidence in the House in less than one-and-a-half-year.

According to constitutional provisions, a prime minister has to take a vote of confidence after an ally withdraws support to the ruling coalition.

Prachanda was required to prove his majority after he lost the support of the previous ally, the Nepali Congress, the largest party in the HoR.

Prachanda's new political alliance is with the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML) led by former prime minister K P Oli, who was regarded as a top critic of the Maoist leader.

Prachanda became the prime minister for the third term on December 25, 2022.

Last year, Prachanda faced a floor test after the Oli-led CPN-UML withdrew its support to the Prachanda-led government following a rift over backing the main opposition party’s candidate for the presidential poll.

In the 2017 election, Prachanda and Oli merged their parties and secured a comfortable majority. Oli became the prime minister, but their partnership ended halfway following differences between them.