Nepal's PM wins vote of confidence after forming new coalition

KATHMANDU -- Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Wednesday won a vote of confidence in the House of Representatives, days after he forged a new five-party coalition government.

"Of 268 lawmakers who took part in the voting, 157 voted for the vote of confidence, which is a majority of the total existing lawmakers in the house," said Dev Raj Ghimire, speaker of the lower house. "Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has won the vote of confidence."

The support of 138 lawmakers is enough to win the vote of trust in the 275-member chamber.

The vote of confidence became mandatory after Dahal broke alliance with the Nepali Congress, the largest party in the lower house, and reintroduced the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) into the new coalition on March 4 and formed a 22-member new cabinet days later.

This was the third time for Dahal, chairman of CPN (Maoist Center), to win a vote of trust since he became the head of a coalition government comprising the CPN-UML in late December 2022 following the general election in November that year.

Dahal joined hands with the Nepali Congress two months later following the exit of the CPN-UML.