On Monday, the Nepali Prime Minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ sought and won the vote of confidence for the 4th time in a row during his tenure of 18 months, he took office in December 2022.
Prachanda, who belongs to Communist Party of Nepal – the third largest party in the House of Representatives received 61%(157) of the 257 house votes, re-affirming his dominance in the House. A total of 158 lawmakers took part in the voting process, out of which the major Opposition Party boycotted the process and one member remained neutral.
The voting took place as a result of Janata Samajbadi party, a junior coalition member of Prachanda’s party, following differences with its leader, withdrew its support last week and quit the coalition government. Nonetheless the vote of confidence took place since the constitution of Nepal delineates that a prime minister has to prove his majority in the house after an ally withdraws support to the ruling coalition.
The voting had been scheduled earlier but was delayed due to the protests led by oppositions demanding a parliamentary probe into allegations that his home minister illegally took money from several companies before he entered politics.
Prachanda’s unstable government
The first trust vote took place in January 2023 where he obtained 268 votes proving his majority in the house. Later in March of the same year, another round of trust vote took place which he won again, with 172 votes.
Next in 2024, nearly two months ago, Prachanda had to prove his majority, with the trust vote, in the house for the third time.
Looking at Prachanda’s political time, since he joined mainstream politics after leading Nepal’s Maoist insurgency between 1996-2006, political analysts observed that the support for him in Parliament has declined from 268 in January 2023 to merely 157 two years later. Despite this, he has proven himself to be a formidable leader clung to his seat.
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What are the present parties in the coalition government?
Early this March, PushpaKamal Prachanda disbanded his original coalition government with Nepali Congress, ditching Deuba who supported him during the third trust vote. He formed a new coalition government comprising Communist Party of Nepal (UML), Rashtriya Swantantra Party(RSP), Janata Samajbadi Party(JSP) and Communist Party of Nepal(Unified Socialist), Prachanda’s own party.
