Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ Resigns

Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has resigned from his post. He was elected as the 39th Prime Minister of Nepal. Prachanda has stepped down honouring a power sharing agreement entered by him with the ruling partner Nepali Congress on August 3, 2016. As per the agreement, Dahal, who is the Chairman of CPN (Maoist Centre) was to have a brief stint of 9 months and will be succeeded by Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba. It was agreed that the government will be run on a rotational basis until elections to Parliament are held in February 2018.
Sher Bahadur Deuba is expected to assume the office by next week. In his tenure, he will oversee the remaining two elections — provincial and central which are to be conducted by January 2018.
Prachanda’s tenure has helped to ease the hostile relationship between the Government of Nepal and Madhesis. Both Prachanda and Sher Bahadur Deuba are committed to amend the constitution to accommodate the aspirations of Madhesi people who have been protesting since 2015 against those constitutional provisions that excludes them from the power structure.

Background

First local level polls were held in Nepal on May 14 which is a first in two decades. After 1997, local level elections could not be held in Nepal due to the decade-long Maoist insurgency and ensuing political instability.  Nepal has seen around 25 prime ministers in the last 25 years.
Nepal is also recovering from the devastating earthquake which killed over 9,000 people. In addition, it is also plagued by the protests of the minority ethnic Madhesis who demand amendment of the Nepali Constitution.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2017