Nepal PM Oli likely to win vote of confidence on Sunday

KATHMANDU: Nepal's newly appointed Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli is expected to win a vote of confidence in Parliament on Sunday, nearly a week after he was sworn in to lead another coalition government in the Himalayan nation facing frequent power struggles.

The 72-year-old veteran Communist leader was sworn in on Monday as the Himalayan nation's prime minister for the fourth time. He was administered the oath of office and secrecy along with 21 other members of the Cabinet.

According to Nepal's Constitution, Oli needs to secure a vote of confidence from Parliament within 30 days of appointment, which he is likely to secure easily.

The minimum number to form a government in the 275-strong House of Representatives is just 138.

The Chairman of the CPN-UML, Nepal's largest communist party was appointed as prime minister on Sunday by President Ram Chandra Paudel to lead the coalition government with the Nepali Congress (NC), the largest party in Parliament, apart from other smaller parties.

Nepali Congress and Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) have a combined strength of 167, and two other ruling parties, Janata Samajwadi Party and Lokatantrik Samajwadi Party, have seven and four seats, respectively.

With this, the ruling alliance has a strength of 178 in the 275-member HoR.

Apart from the ruling alliance, Oli is also likely to get votes from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), Janata Samajwadi Party Nepal (JSP), Nagarik Unmukti Party (NUP) and Janamat Party.

The RPP has 14 seats, JSP Nepal has five, NUP has four, and Janamat has six seats.

Therefore, the alliance is likely to secure more than 200 votes in the floor test, according to sources close to CPN-UML.

Oli succeeds Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda,' who lost the vote of confidence in the HoR last week, leading to the formation of the new government.

The three Opposition parties -- Prachanda's Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre (CPN-MC), Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), and Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Socialist (CPN-US) -- held a joint meeting on Friday and decided not to support Oli in the vote of confidence.

The CPN-UML Chairman now leads the new coalition government that faces the daunting challenge of providing political stability in the Himalayan nation.

Nepal has faced frequent political turmoil as the country has seen 14 governments in the past 16 years after the introduction of the Republican system.