Paudel pulls out of PM race

REPUBLICA

KATHMANDU, Jan 13: The six-month-long prime ministerial election process came to an end on Wednesday, with lone candidate Ram Chandra Paudel, parliamentary party leader of the Nepali Congress (NC), pulling out of the race.

NC leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, who had seconded Paudel while he was filing his candidacy for the post of prime minister, stated that the NC decided to abort the candidacy for the sake of national consensus on peace, constitution and government formation.

“The NC has withdrawn the candidacy, honoring the wish of the masses as well as the international community that the country should see a national consensus,” said Deuba.

Coming out of parliament after withdrawing his candidacy, Paudel said he made the move for the sake of national consensus on the peace process and constitution drafting.

“I pulled out of the race after the small political parties as well major ones including UCPN (Maoist) and CPN-UML requested me to do so for the sake of peace and constitution. We felt that candidacy withdrawal would facilitate national consensus,” said Paudel. The NC leader, who was defeated 16 times, also stated that the major parties have reached an understanding on the peace process and constitution drafting.

Paudel had become the lone prime ministerial candidate after another candidate, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, withdrew his candidacy. Parliament was unable to pick a new prime minister even after 16 rounds of voting as the UML took a neutral position and the Maoists voted against.

PM race open again

With the fruitless election ending, Speaker Subash Nembag announced that parliament would begin the process anew.

As the prime ministerial race is now open to all political parties, these are expected to hold a flurry of parleys in the next couple of days to lead a new government.

Immediately after they come out of the House on Wednesday, the top leaders of major political parties staked claim to the government leadership, although all of them also talked of political consensus.

Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said the parties should agree to make him the next prime minister as his party is the largest in parliament.

“Our party being the largest in parliament should obviously lead the government,” said Dahal.

Similarly, UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal stated that other political parties should give credit to the positive role played by the UML, though it is only the third largest in parliament. “Other political parties should appreciate the role played by the UML as the third largest political party,” he said. The UML chairman argued that the new government should be formed in such a way that the peace process and constitution drafting could be concluded.

“There should be a consensus government. But the party with a majority in parliament will obviously lead the government in case we fail to form a consensus government,” said Khanal, who is said to have the backing of Maoist Chairman Dahal for the post of prime minister.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal had sent a letter to NC leader Paudel to withdraw his candidacy. Nepal sent the letter to Paudel after he failed to force Khanal to scrap the party decision to vote against Paudel.

The NC was under pressure to withdraw the candidacy after the Maoists and UML remained adamant on voting against Paudel and the latter was almost sure to be defeated by a majority vote, leading to the annulment of his candidacy.

Paudel withdraws after NC emergency meet

The NC held an emergency meeting of the party´s Central Working Committee (CWC) at the Constituent Assembly (CA) building at New Baneshwor at the eleventh hour after the Maoists and UML turned down the party´s request to postpone the scheduled voting by a day.

The meeting finally decided to withdraw the candidacy late in the evening. NC General Secretary Prakash Man Singh said the decision was taken to facilitate a consensus government. “We took the decision to withdraw the candidacy, keeping in view the current political situation,” he said.

The NC´s decision comes amidst the Maoist and UML decision to vote against Paudel´s candidacy. The NC, earlier in the day, had decided to ask Speaker Subas Nembang to defer voting in the prime ministerial election for a day to forge a consensus with other parties.

Various small parties supporting the current Madhav Kumar Nepal-led coalition had also supported NC´s decision during a meeting held at the NC parliamentary party office at Singha Durbar later in the afternoon.