Deuba may be a strong contender for the post, but he has competition within the coalition, as well as the NC
KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 16
With the Election Commission submitting the last election's results to the president yesterday, million-dollar questions are: who will form the next government, when will it be formed, and who will be the next prime minister?
As November 20 elections produced hung Parliament and provincial assemblies, any member of the House of Representatives, not necessarily a parliamentary party leader, can claim to form the government presenting evidence that s/he has the support of 138 members of the Lower House.
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, the president of the Nepali Congress, is a strong contender to lead the next coalition government. He, however, wants to initiate the process of forming the next government only after electing the parliamentary party leader. If President Bidhya Devi Bhandari asks parties to form the government, they will have to decide within their parties on consensus candidates for the PM's post before informing her.
Nepali Congress leader Bimalendra Nidhi said Deuba would be the NC's candidate for the PM's post and would try to bring new parties and independent lawmakers into the ruling coalition's fold.
Nidhi said if the president asks parties to form the govern-ment within the next two-three days, parties represented in the HoR may not have enough time to hold their parliamentary party leaders' elections and would have to decide on respective consensus candidates for the PM's post before informing the president.
Asked if coalition partners would also discuss sharing key posts of president, vice-president, speaker, deputy speaker, and chief ministers before deciding who should be the next PM, Nidhi said, "Parties are in no hurry to discuss those issues.
Moreover, the tenure of the incumbent president will end only on March 12."
Nidhi said it might take 8-10 days for the government to summon the new session of the Parliament. If a new government is not formed soon, the president, on recommendation of the current government led by Deuba will call the new session of the Parliament.
The president can appoint a new PM even before the newly elected lawmakers take the oath of office and secrecy as such a precedent has already been set. After 2017 election, UML Chair KP Sharma Oli had staked the claim to form the government with the support of the CPN-Maoist Centre and he was appointed the new prime minister without taking the oath as a member of the HoR.
The NC with 89 seats in the HoR and the UML with 78 seats can form the government, but since they are unlikely to join hands, any HoR member who wants to form the government will require the support of more than two parties.
The current five-party alliance led by the NC needs two more seats to form the government and as the Janmat Party with six seats in the HoR was positive about joining the current ruling coalition, the five-party alliance is very likely to form the government.
It is apparent that if the current coalition remains intact, the NC and the CPN-MC will take turns to lead the government during the five-year tenure.
However, the question ofwho should be the prime minister will be tricky, not just between the two parties, but even within the NC.
Deuba, who commands majority in the party and among the newly elected members, is a strong contender for the PM's post, but other NC leaders - Shekhar Koirala, Gagan Kumar Thapa, and Ramchandra Paudel - have also expressed desire to be the next prime minister.
President Bidhya Devi Bhandari's Media Expert Tika Prasad Dhakal told THT that facilitating the process of forming the new government was the president's prerogative and she would soon ask parties to form the government in accordance with Article 76 (2) of the constitution.
The article details provisions for forming a coalition government in the case of a hung Parliament.
The constitution states that a new government must be formed within 35 days of the president receiving election results and the new prime minister should take vote of confidence in the HoR within 30 days of official election results.
He said the process of forming the government and summoning of the new session of the HoR could go hand in hand or separately. President's Political Adviser Lalbabu Yadav said the president would consult the prime minister before asking parties to form the government.
"Even if this is a caretaker government, the president will consult it before asking parties to form the new government," Yadav added.
CPN-MC leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha said his party would wait for 3-4 days to elect the parliamentary party leader. "Prime Minister Deuba has been telling us that he will discuss government formation only after the NC elects its parliamentary party leader. But his party has not yet decided about it," he said.
A version of this article appears in the print on December 17, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
