Prachanda appointed PM - A fragile unexpected Power Sharing Arrangements in Nepal

• On November 20, 2022, Nepal held its second Federal Elections after the promulgation of its new constitution in 2015. A total of 165 members were elected under the First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) system while 110 members were elected under the Proportional Representation (PR) system out of the 275-member lower house. Likewise, only seven political parties crossed the 3% threshold to secure their Proportional Representation seats. The election results saw Nepali Congress gain grounds (89), UML (78), Maoist Center (32) ?lose seats and emergence of Rastriya Swatantra Party (20), a newly formed independent party as fourth largest and the royalist Rastriya Prajatantra Party (12) regain. While older Madhes parties and alliances lost ground, new regional parties emerged.
• ·??????The Nepali Congress (NC), CPN – Maoist Center, CPN – United Socialists (CPN - US), Loktantrik Samajbadi Party (LSP) and Rastriya Janamorcha Party (RJP) had formed a pre-poll alliance. CPN-UML, Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) had seat sharing arrangements.
• ·??????Sher Bahadur Deuba was elected NC Parliamentary Party leader and did not want to give PM position to Pushpa Kamal Dahal as agreed upon and in major turn of events, Pushpa Kamal Dahal went to CPN UML for support and garnered support of 166 lawmakers to be appointed PM under a power sharing arrangement with CPN-UML splitting the five year tenure between them.
• Dahal will be heading the government for a third time, the first two being in 2008 and 2016. His first stint as prime minister came to an end when he dismissed Chief of Army Staff Rookmangud Katawal over a disagreement on the reintegration of former rebel combatants into the army. President Ram Baran Yadav restored Katawal, which caused Dahal to quit as prime minister under moral grounds. Dahal’s second prime ministership lasted from 2016 to 2018 in accordance with an arrangement that Sher Bahadur Deuba would take over and lead the government until elections for the parliament were held in February 2018.
• Seven other Ministers and Prime Minister Dahal took oath on Monday 26, 2022. In a power sharing agreement three Deputy Prime Ministers were also appointed. UML Vice President Bishnu Poudel, who served earlier also as Finance Minister under Oli gets back the portfolio. Veteran Maoist Center leader Senior Vice President Narayan Kaji Shrestha has been appointed as Physical Infrastructure and Transport. Rastriya Swatantra Party Chairman Rabi Lamichhane gets the Home portfolio. The former Television anchor who hosted a popular television show just formed the party six months ago.
• The autocratic system in Nepali Congress led to Deuba making unilateral decisions without consultations of other party members, leading to the breaking of the alliance. This has led to the Nepali Congress, despite being the largest party lose all leadership positions in the 7 provinces, and the chance to appoint the president and house speaker.
• The coalition is very fragile as it is more of a power sharing arrangement based on aspirations and convenience. Dahal has checkered past and low credibility and is seen been used by Oli for UML to secure the position of the President in upcoming elections in February.
• This alliance is surely to survive till March end. The next three months will be critical to see whether the new look parliament with many first time parliamentarians will function the old ways or there will be efforts to move to work on legislations that have been stalled since July 2019. ?

27 December 2022