Ending nearly seven months of leadership vacuum, the Legislature-Parliament elected CPN UML chairman Jhalanath Khanal as the country’s new Prime Minister on Thursday.
Khanal’s road to premiership was cleared after UCPN-Maoist, the largest party in parliament, in a last hour dramatic move withdrew its candidacy, deciding to throw its weight behind its longtime favourite Khanal in today’s PM vote.
With UCPN-Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal pulling out of the race, Khanal clinched the required majority, outvoting two other PM aspirants—Nepali Congress (NC) parliamentary party leader Ram Chandra Paudel and Madhes Janaadhikar Forum-Democratic (MJF-D)chairman Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar.
Khanal polled in 368 votes, while NC’s Paudel secured 122 votes in the current 598-seat parliament. MJF-D’s Gachhadar got 67 votes. Unlike the previous polls, all the three PM proposals were tabled at the same time in today’s parliamentary session and only affirmative votes were cast as per new parliamentary regulations.
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