Kathmandu [Nepal], March 13 : Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, after winning the vote of confidence in the Nepali Parliament for the third time in 15 months, said that he feels that his responsibility has further increased as the country is struggling to maintain political stability.
Speaking to reporters outside the Federal Parliament on Wednesday, Dahal said, "After securing a third vote of confidence as Prime Minister from parliament today, this is an issue of increased responsibility for me. To work for the country and the people more efficiently, the parliament has given me another chance."
The latest round of votes of confidence comes after a dramatic turn by Dahal, aka 'Prachada' after he ditched the Nepali Congress to forge a communist alliance with the CPN-UML.
PM Dahal secured 157 votes in favour while 110 lawmakers voted against him. One of the lawmakers in the Nepali federal parliament abstained. A total of 268 votes were cast on Wednesday.
Dahal, who has been losing his popularity and support in the parliament as he continues to take votes of confidence at certain intervals, lost 15 votes this time in comparison to last year's vote of confidence.
Last time, he received a total of 172 votes in his confidence, while the number of votes stood at 157 this time.
"Total number of MPs present stands at 268. PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal, as per the Constitution of Nepal (2072) Article 100 Sub-section 2, the tabled proposal of a vote of confidence in the parliament has garnered a total of 157 votes. The votes against his proposal stand at 110. One neutral vote has been cast. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal-Prachanda has garnered 157 votes in favour, and the number crossed the mark of one-third of votes based on the presence of lawmakers during the meeting. Thus, his proposal of vote of confidence has been approved with a majority," House Speaker Debraj Ghimire announced.
Dahal, Nom de guerre Prachanda, also the chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Center, ended the coalition with Nepali Congress on March 4 this year allying with KP Sharma Oli-led CPN-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML).
Dahal and Oli also allied in December 2022, which lasted only three months and collapsed right before the presidential election last year.
Within a year, the two communist leaders have again united to form a coalition seconded by Rastriya Swatantra Party led by Rabi Lamichhane, the former Home Minister who had to step down after being found to be holding dual citizenship.
Additionally, the Janata Samajbadi Party also supported the new coalition forged earlier this month.
Dahal has always been at the forefront of Nepali politics, as he manages to remain afloat in any sort of coalition. Ever since the Maoists entered mainstream politics after the 2006, People's Movement II, the Maoist Center has always been sitting on the ruling coalition bench of the parliament.
With a mere 32 seats in the lower house of parliament or the House of Representatives, Dahal managed to kick off the largest seat owing to the Nepal Congress to remain in power switching the coalition.
For the first time, Dahal secured over a 99 per cent vote of confidence from the parliament on 10 January 2023. A total of 268 parliamentarians out of 270 present in that meeting had voted in favour of Dahal.
Within three months, Dahal dumped CPN-UML to walk out of government again aligning
with Nepali Congress and managed to secure a majority in the vote of confidence on March 20, 2023. In the second round of the vote of confidence, Dahal got 172 votes out of 262 lawmakers present at the time of voting. Only 89 votes were cast against Dahal while one member abstained from voting.
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