Nepal's Pushpa Kamal Dahal resigns after losing vote of confidence, KP Sharma Oli return to power as next PM

Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' lost his latest vote of confidence in the Parliament on Friday, an expected result that forced him to resign and pave the way for his Communist rival KP Sharma Oli to return to power as the next PM. Prachanda called for a fifth vote of confidence after the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) withdrew its support for his government and struck a late-night coalition deal with the Nepali Congress.

All developments pointed towards Prachanda losing Friday's vote of confidence as he received just 63 votes in the 275-member House of Representatives, when he needed 138 votes to secure the vote of trust. There were 194 votes against



Dahal's motion of confidence in the Parliament.

Dahal's CPN-Maoist Centre only has 32 members in the Parliament. Nepali Congress has 89 seats, while CPN-UML has 78 seats. Their combined strength of 167 is much more than the 138 required for a majority in the lower house. NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba has already endorsed Oli as the next prime minister of Nepal.

Major parties in the Parliament - the Nepali Congress, CPN- UML and Janata Samajbadi Party have issued a whip to its lawmakers to stand against the confidence motion to be tabled today. Oli-led CPN-UML withdrew support from the Prachanda-led government last week after inking a power-sharing deal with the Nepali Congress.