June 7, 2017
Yesterday, Veteran politician Sher Bahadur Deuba was elected Nepal’s Prime Minister for the fourth time in his career with the support of nearly two-thirds of the members of the 593-strong Parliament. The 70-year-old Nepali Congress president returned to the top post 12 years after he was removed by then King Gynendra Shah. For my interview with Deuba in 2007, link here: http://www.mikeldunham.blogs.com/mikeldunham/2007/09/dunhams-intervi.html
Deuba has previously served three times as prime minister, in 1995-1997, 2001-2002 and 2004-2005. Nepal's last monarch King Gyanendra called him incompetent and fired him in 2002 for failing to contain a Maoist insurgency and hold elections. He was later reinstated only to be sacked again in 2005.
The election became necessary after Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” quit the post of prime minister last month under a power-sharing deal with Deuba. For my November 2016 interview with Prachanda, link here: http://www.mikeldunham.blogs.com/mikeldunham/2016/11/the-making-of-a-democracy-mikel-dunhams-interview-with-the-prime-minister-of-nepal-pushpa-kamal-dahal-aka-prachanda.html
Deuba received wide-ranging political support during the voting and his victory was almost certain. Among the parties that backed Deuba, who has long-standing democratic credentials, were CPN-Maoist Centre and Madhes-based parties. He now becomes the 40th prime minister in Nepal’s history.
According to an article by Gopal Sharma written for Reuters, Kunda Dixit, editor of the weekly Nepali Times said that Deuba’s track record did not “inspire a great deal of confidence. He comes with a lot of baggage. Every time he has been appointed or sacked as prime minister, he has left democracy in a crisis.”
Deuba is expected to form a small Cabinet tomorrow. Some Madhesi parties are likely to join the coalition.
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