Nepal parliament fails again to elect new PM
KATHMANDU, July 24 AFP - Nepal’s parliament failed Friday in
its latest effort to elect a new prime minister, fuelling concern that
political deadlock will derail the country’s peace process and trigger
fresh instability.
For the second time in three days, a vote by 599 MPs fell short of
providing a majority to either of two candidates: Maoist supremo Pushpa
Kamal Dahal and centrist Nepali Congress chief Ram Chandra Poudel.
The Maoist leader garnered 241 votes against 123 for Poudel, with the
remainder either voting against either candidate or abstaining.
“Both the candidates are unable to secure a majority,” speaker Subash
Chandra Nembang said, before announcing a third ballot to be held August
2.
The Maoists, who fought a 10-year battle against the state before
entering politics and winning elections in 2008, say that as the largest
single party in parliament they should lead the government.
Dahal, better known by his nom de guerre Prachanda, or “the fierce
one,” had served as prime minister after the 2008 vote but quit in May
2009 over a row with army.
Nepal’s parliament, or Constituent Assembly, was elected with a
two-year mandate to complete the country’s post-war peace process and
draft a new national constitution.
But it has failed to complete either task, hampered by fierce
disagreements between the Maoists and their rivals that have resulted in
the current deadlock and left the country effectively rudderless at a
critical moment of transition.
“Nepal desperately needs a functioning government right now,”
Prashant Jha, a political commentator and columnist, told AFP. “There
are millions of things to tackle, from economic growth to peace process
and law-and-order situation.
“In recent days, what we have seen is a steep increase in public
cynicism and apathy towards politics, which is a dangerous sign for a
fledgling democracy like Nepal.” Before Friday’s ballot, the United
States had appealed for a compromise that would allow the country to
tackle a host of pressing concerns, including the drafting of the new
constitution. “We urge Nepal’s political leaders to reach agreement on a
government that will move forward quickly on the issues that are
essential for Nepal’s stability and economic development,” US State
Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in Washington. |