Nepal PM Deuba wins vote of confidence in Parliament

KATHMANDU: Nepal's new Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Sunday won the vote of confidence in Parliament on Sunday.

House Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota read out the results of the vote, in which Deuba received 165 votes while 84 parliamentarians voted against him. While the lower house currently has 271 members, only 249 lawmakers were present for voting as some boycotted the voting and some were absent.

Deuba was supported by his own Nepali Congress, the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist Centre), the Janata Samajbadi Party, as well as some lawmakers from main opposition Nepal Communist Party-UML whose chair is his predecessor, K.P. Sharma Oli.

The Nepali Congress has 61 seats while coalition partner Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) has 49 seats. Similarly, the Rastriya Janamorcha, with one seat, also decided to vote for Deuba.

But half of the lawmakers of the Janata Samajbadi Party, which has a total of 32 members, also made a volte face on Sunday and suddenly decided to vote for Deuba.

A faction of the party had earlier supported Oli while half of them remained in tge opposition.

After the Supreme Court overturned Oli's decision to dissolve the house, the party came together and decided to vote for Deuba.

Oli's own party, Nepal Communist Party-UML remained divided. out of its 127 lawmakers, 22 party lawmakers voted in favour of Deuba and 10 lawmakers were absent.

Deuba was appointed Prime Minister last Tuesday after the Supreme Court overturned Oli's decision to dissolve the House of Representatives on May 21, and reinstated the house.

The Constitution makes it mandatory that a Prime Minister appointed under Article 76(5) secures a vote of confidence within 30 days of appointment. (IANS)

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