KATHMANDU – President Bidya Devi Bhandari has, with the ending of the deadline given to political parties to form a new government on the basis of political consensus, called on political parties representing in the Legislature-Parliament to go with a process of forming a majority government.
The President has, in accordance with Article 298(3) of the Nepal’s Constitution, urged political parties to complete the election of a new prime minister on a majority basis within the next seven days beginning from today. In a communique today, the Office of the President stated that the Head-of-the-State has urged political parties representing in the Legislature-Parliament to elect a new Prime Minister on a majority basis within the next seven days and from the Council of Ministers under his or her chairpersonship.
The communique was issued by Spokesperson for the Office of President, Mohan Prasad Wagle. The President urged the political parties to start the majority process for the formation of the government today as the election of the Prime Minister as per the political consensus could not materialize as of Wednesday night, the deadline given to the parties to form the new government based on political consensus. The President had on May 25 called on the parties to form a consensus government.
The communique states: “(The political parties) are hereby called to forward the process of electing the Prime Minister on the basis of the majority of the existing number of members in the Legislature-Parliament as per the Article 298 (3) of the Constitution of Nepal.” Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ had resigned from his post on May 24, in compliance with the understanding reached between the Nepali Congress and his party, the CPN (Maoist Centre), at the time of the formation of the incumbent government in August 2016.
