Ajit Karn
Monday in Kathmandu, Nepal’s newly elected president Ram Chandra Poudel — the third since 2008, when the Himalayan nation abolished its centuries-old monarchy and became a republic — took the oath of office.
Thursday, members of the Federal Parliament and provincial assemblies elected Ram Chandra Poudel. At the ceremony where the military band played national anthems and saluted the new president, top officials, diplomats, and members of Parliament lined up to offer their congratulations.
President Bidhya Devi Bhandari, having served the maximum two terms, handed over the presidency immediately following the inauguration ceremony.
The president has little political power and is primarily a figurehead. The election, however, sparked a feud between partners in the governing alliance led by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who assumed office in December following the formation of a fragile coalition government following a hung parliament.
Dahal supported Ram Chandra Poudel, who is also the current supreme commander of the Nepalese army, infuriating his main coalition partner, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), which supported its own candidate, Subash Chandra Nembang.
Since then, the party has left the coalition, threatening Dahal’s authority.
Dahal has since lost the support of three major political parties that were a part of his initial coalition government, and must seek a vote of confidence in parliament later in March in order to remain in office.
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There was no clear explanation for Dahal’s decision to support the opposition candidate and jeopardise his alliance, but power struggles between the major political parties are common. In the past decade, the country has had eight different governments.
