Kathmandu: Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ is set to face a vote of confidence in parliament Monday, the second-floor test for him within three months after the formation of the new government.
Prachanda Sunday exuded confidence that he will comfortably win a vote of confidence in the House of Representatives.
Prachanda, 68, requires to seek a vote of confidence as two parties in the seven-party alliance – Rastriya Prajatantra Party and CPN-UML – withdrew support to the government. They refused to endorse Prachanda’s proposal to back Nepali Congress leader Ramchandra Paudel for the post of president.
Prachanda, who was sworn in as the country’s Prime Minister in December, comfortably passed the floor test January 10 with 268 votes in the 275-member House of Representatives (HoR), after all parties except the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party and the Rastriya Janamorcha voted in favour of the government.
Talking to reporters after coming out of Parliament building, Prime Minister Prachanda said that he hopes to get all the votes Monday.
“Last time, I received support from 99 per cent members of the House of Representatives, and I hope, this time I will get one hundred per cent votes,” he said.
Earlier, the prime minister told the alliance partners that he would go for a floor test March 20.
The partners of the 10-party alliance are CPN-Maoist Centre, Nepali Congress, CPN (Unified Socialist), Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal, Janamat Party, Rashtriya Jan Morcha, Nagarik Unmukti Party, Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal, Loktantrik Samajwadi Party-Nepal, Nepal Samajwadi Party and Aam Janata Party.
The Nepali Congress, the largest party in the HoR, has decided to vote in favour of Prachanda Monday and join the government after the vote of confidence is passed.
“Nepali Congress has decided to back the Prachanda-led government during the vote of confidence and our party will join the government once the vote of confidence is passed,” senior leader of the party Prakash Man Singh told PTI.
So far, the Nepali Congress, Rashtriya Swotantra Party and CPN-Unified Socialist have announced that they will vote for Prachanda, which is sufficient for the premier to win the vote of confidence.
The combined strength of the parties is 151, which is sufficient as the votes need to win the vote of confidence in the 275-member HoR is 138.
PTI