Nepal PM Oli eyes two-third majority as he prepares to take vote of confidence today

KATHMANDU: Nepal PM Oli eyes two-third majority as he prepares to take vote of confidence today

Appointed as Prime Minister in mid-July this year, Oli will be tabling the trust motion in parliament during a meeting scheduled for 1 pm (local time) on Sunday.

According to the parliamentary meeting schedule made public by the Parliament Secretariat, PM Oli will be tabling the trust motion in parliament.

As per the parliamentary mathematics, Oli might secure two-third majority, provided the support extended to him during his appointment over the post continues.

The CPN-UML, led by Oli himself, has 78 seats, while the Nepali Congress, the main ally of the alliance, has 88 seats, the Janata Samajbadi Party has seven, and the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party has four seats in the parliament. All these parties are also on board the government, which Oli formed last Monday.

In addition, Oli is expected to secure votes from the Janata Samajbadi Party, which has 5 seats, the Janamat Party with 6 seats and the Nagarik Unmukti Party with 4 seats. The combined strength of all these parties is 192, eight seats more than the required two-thirds majority in the 275-seat hung parliament.

"All the lawmakers have been mandated to participate in today's vote of confidence. We have issued whips to all our party lawmakers in the lower house to vote in support of the Prime Minister as well as the Party Chair, KP Sharma Oli," Mahesh Bartaula, the chief whip of CPN-UML, said.

Oli, Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninists (CPN-UML), returned to power after striking a deal with Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba on July 2, past midnight. The deal, which is yet to made public, stipulates that Oli will remain in power for two years and then handover to Deuba, as per the leaders from both the parties.

Those who have decided to vote against Oli are the CPN-Maoist Centre, the CPN-Unified Socialist Party, Rastriya Swatantra Party and the right-wing pro-monarch the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP).

RPP in the floor test of former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had voted against the trust motion on July 12. Conveying a parliamentary committee meeting on Saturday, the party decided to vote against the trust motion to-be-presented by Oli later on Sunday.

"Incumbent Prime Minister have comfortable majority in the parliament. The deal which was struck earlier this month hasn't been made public till now and both the major parties does not appear to be serious about revisiting the constitution. We can work on the constitution amendment but we won't be voting in favor of the trust motion in parliament," Rajendra Prasad Lingden, Chairman of Rastriya Prajatantra Party told ANI over phone.

Moreove, RPP has 14 seats in the House.

Earlier, the Maoist Centre (32 seats), Rastriya Swatantra Party (21), and CPN-Unified Socialist (10) decided to vote against Oli in the motion.