KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) —
Nepal’s prime minister lost a confidence vote in parliament on Friday after the largest party in his coalition government withdrew its support, forcing him to step down after 19 months in power.
Pushpa Kamal Dahal failed to gain the support of more than half of the members of the House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament, needed to win the vote on Friday.
Speaker of Parliament Dev Raj Ghimire announced that he had received only 63 votes in favour, while 194 other members voted against him, depriving him of the majority he needed to remain in power.
He had to table a vote of confidence in parliament after his main ally in government, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), decided last week to withdraw its support and team up with the Nepali Congress, the country’s largest party, to form a new alliance.
The alliance has agreed that Khadga Prasad Oli, the leader of the communist party, will become the new prime minister.
Dahal has led a shaky governing coalition since then become prime minister in December 2022 after an inconclusive election in which his party finished third. But he formed a new alliance and became its leader and prime minister.
Since becoming leader, he has had to ask for confidence in parliament five times due to differences of opinion within his coalition partners.
This was his third stint as prime minister of the Himalayan nation since his Maoist group ended an armed insurgency in 2006 and entered mainstream politics.
Dahal, also known as Prachanda, or “the fierce one,” led a violent Maoist communist insurgency from 1996 to 2006. More than 17,000 people were killed and the status of many others remains unknown.
The Maoists abandoned their armed insurgency, joined a UN-backed peace process in 2006, and entered mainstream politics. Dahal’s party won the most seats in parliament in 2008 and he became prime minister, but resigned a year later over differences with the president.