Nepal elects Maoist leader as PM

Legislators in Nepal have elected the leader of former Maoist fighters as the new republic's first prime minister. Prachanda was voted in by members of the country's constitutional assembly on Friday, ending months of political deadlock that followed the sacking of the unpopular king Gyanendra.  Prachanda was backed by 464 deputies, with 113 against, defeating his only rival Sher Bahadur Deuba, a three-time former prime minister and member of the Nepali Congress party.  "Today is a day of pride and it will be written with golden letters in the history of the nation," Baburam Bhattarai, Prachanda's colleague who is seen as the number two in the Maoist hierarchy, said. He also said that said Maoist politicians would no longer hold any posts in the Maoist rebel army and would return property seized by them during the war. Prachanda, whose given name is Pushpa Kamal Dahal, led a decade-long insurgency to overthrow the monarchy - a war that cost the lives of at least 13,000 people and devastated one of the world's poorest countries. The Maoists signed a peace deal with mainstream parties in 2006, vowed to renounce violence and steered his party, the Communist Party of Nepal - Maoists, to victory in elections to a new constitutional assembly in April.  The Maoists then won a special assembly election but did not get a parliamentary majority, leaving Nepal struggling to form a government four four months after the polls.

KATHMANDU, Aug 15 - CPN-UML General Secretary Jhala Nath Khanal Friday said that his party supported the Maoists after the Nepali Congress showed no sing of joining the Maoist-led government. He added that the UML tried hard to forge an agreement to form a national consensus government until the final hour but to no avail.  Speaking at Friday’s legislative session of the Constituent Assembly( CA), Khanal, who proposed Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s candidacy for the PM’s, urged the Maoists to disband the paramilitary structure of the Maoist youth front Young Communist League (YCL) and to implement their commitment regarding the integration of Maoists soldier and Nepal Army.  Likewise, Nepali Congress Vice-President Ram Chandra Poudel accused that the Maoists of not being interested to include his party in the new government and moving towards political polarization.

The most contentious issue in forming a coalition has been control over the defence ministry, with the future of 19,000 former Maoist guerrillas remaining one of the most sensitive issues in the continuing peace process. The Nepali Congress, which ruled the country for most of the last 18 years and is the second largest party in the assembly, has accused the Maoists of failing to live up to pledges to renounce violence and restore property seized during the conflict. “We’ll respect the aspirations of the Nepali people for peace,” the bespectacled Mr Dahal told local journalists on Thursday. “And we’ll work for the preparation of the new constitution and the forward-looking transformation of society.”

The constituent assembly – which has already abolished the country’s 240-year-old monarchy – must now draft a new republican constitution and simultaneously serve as a legislature.