Nepal Prime Minister (PM) Sher Bahadur Deuba resigned today. Following the latest development in the country's politics, former PM Khadga Prasad Oli will become the next PM.
The Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) on Wednesday declared party chair KP Sharma Oli as the next PM of the country over two months after the successful conclusion of historic parliamentary polls.
Oli, 65, served as the country's prime minister from October 11, 2015 to August 3, 2016. He is known for his pro-China stance.
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A Standing Committee (SC) of the party held in Lalitpur named Oli as the prime ministerial candidate as he is also the UML's Parliamentary Party leader, senior party leader Surendra Pandey said.
As the head of the largest party in the House of Representative, Oli was the natural claimant for the top post.
The Supreme Court also gave the nod to a formal merger between the CPN-UML and the CPN Maoist Centre.
The two communist parties had months ago made a decision to jointly contest the Parliamentary and provincial elections.
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Modalities for the rotation of the premiership, merger of the parties, and the organisation and political doctrine of the new party will be decided by forming a task force by both parties.
The Left Alliance of the CPN-UML, led by Oli and CPN-Maoist Centre had in December secured 174 seats in the 275-member Parliament in the historic provincial and parliamentary polls that many hope will bring much-needed political stability to the Himalayan nation.
It had also secured an overwhelming majority in the upper house of Parliament with 39 seats, paving the way for the leftist alliance to form the country's next government.