Nepal parliament fails again to elect new PM

KATHMANDU: Nepal’s parliament failed  on 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 the 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 US 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.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24^th, 2010.