Nepal heads to surprise election next year after PM loses ground (updated)
20/12/2020 05:55
(Updates with seven ministers' resignation in protest)
By Gopal Sharma
KATHMANDU, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Nepal's president dissolved
parliament on Sunday at the request of Prime Minister K.P.
Sharma Oli's cabinet and announced that general elections would
be held in April and May, more than a year ahead of schedule.
The move plunges the Himalayan country, which has seen
revolving-door governance since street protests restored
multi-party democracy in 1990, into political turmoil as it
battles the coronavirus pandemic.
Seven ministers stepped down, including the tourism head,
citing Oli's decision to go against the "popular mandate" given
to them in the 2017 general election. Protesters burned effigies
of him in various parts of the capital Kathmandu.
President Bidhya Devi Bhandari's office said in a statement
that the April 30 and May 10 voting dates were recommended by
Oli's cabinet following an emergency meeting.
Oli, 68, pushed for a fresh mandate after his Nepal
Communist Party (NCP) accused him of sidelining his party in
government decisions and appointments. He had led an alliance
with former Maoist rebels to a landslide win in the last vote.
"The prime minister has lost the majority in the
parliamentary party, central committee and the secretariat of
the party," said Bishnu Rijal, an NCP central committee member.
"Instead of seeking a compromise within the party, he chose
to dissolve parliament."
Oli's decision came after some lawmakers from his party
registered a vote of no confidence against him in the 275-member
lower house of parliament, NCP lawmaker Pampha Bhusal said.
Sandwiched between China and India, politics in Nepal is
also influenced by the priorities of its giant neighbours. India
has been pushing back against Beijing's growing clout in a
country that New Delhi considers its own backyard.
Oli aide Rajan Bhattarai said the prime minister had acted
in response to the backlash from his party, which had also asked
him to consider quitting as its president.
Politicians and social media users said the ruling party
should have tried out other political combinations to run the
country instead of calling an untimely election when its
tourism-dependent economy has been battered by the pandemic.
Nepal's 2015 charter does not give the prime minister the
prerogative to dissolve parliament without exhausting
alternatives, constitutional expert Bipin Adhikari said.
"It is unconstitutional at the first sight," he said, adding
that the decision could be challenged in the Supreme Court,
which may take a couple of weeks to decide its legality.
After his 2017 win, Oli had vowed to ensure political
stability, fight corruption and poverty but has made little
progress, especially since the pandemic.
Coronavirus infections have reached 253,772, with 1,788
deaths, in the country of 30 million people.
(Reporting by Gopal Sharma; additional reporting Navesh
Chitrakar; Writing by Krishna N. Das; Editing by William Mallard
and Louise Heavens)
((Krishna.Das@tr.com; +91 987111 8314;))