Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” exuded confidence that he would win a confidence vote in the House of Representatives on Monday, days after his coalition partner withdrew support for his government. Prachanda, 69, a former guerrilla leader, belongs to the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist Centre), the third-largest party in the House of Representatives (HoR).
He will move a motion of confidence in parliament, his fourth in 18 months since taking office, over obstruction of the House’s work by the Nepal Opposition Congress, demanding an investigation into the alleged involvement of Interior Minister Rabi Lamichhane in the misappropriation of cooperative funds.
Prachanda is confident that he will win the no-confidence motion
“There is no doubt that my government will survive the floor test,” Prime Minister Prachanda said on Saturday in the ruling party’s program in Kathmandu. “The differences between the ruling alliance and the opposition parties will be resolved through dialogue,” he said.
The Prime Minister is obliged to grant a vote of confidence within 30 days in the event of a split in the party represented by the Prime Minister or in the event of the withdrawal of a member of the coalition government. The Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) withdrew its support last week, leaving the coalition government. This will be Prime Minister Prachanda’s fourth vote of confidence in a year and a half since he assumed the top leadership position on December 25, 2022.
To obtain a vote of confidence, the recent government needs at least 138 votes in the 275-seat House of Representatives. Earlier, on March 13, Prime Minister Dahal won his third vote of confidence in a row. Last year, Prachanda faced a major test after former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s Prachanda-led CPN-UML withdrew its support to the Prachanda-led government following a split over support for the main opposition party’s candidate in the presidential elections.
The government of Nepal is in a state of turbulence
Prachanda’s support dropped significantly in subsequent confidence votes. In January 2023, he received 268 votes, and in March of the same year, 172. In the third floor test, his support dropped to only 157 votes.
Currently, the ruling coalition holds a majority with 77 seats of the CPN-UML, 32 seats of the Maoist Center, 21 seats of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, 7 seats of the newly formed Janata Samajbadi Party and 10 seats of the CPN-United Socialists (CPN-NAS).
Meanwhile, the main political parties have agreed to set up a panel to deal with misappropriation of funds by cooperatives.
(With the participation of the agency)
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