Nepali Congress's Ramchandra Poudyal Ahead In Race To Nepal President's Post As Nomination Filing Begins
While Prime Minister Prachanda sides with a Nepali Congress candidate in the upcoming Presidential elections, the political merry-go-round in the Himalayan Republic of Nepal continues.
Nepal began the process of filing nomination papers for the March 9 presidential election, which could change the country's power equation, after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' sidelined his coalition partner and endorsed Opposition Nepali Congress leader Ramchandra Poudyal for the top post, news agency PTI reported.
According to Election Commission officials, nomination papers can be registered at the Election Commission's Office from 10 am to 3 pm, as stated in the report.
Poudyal, 78, is expected to succeed incumbent Bidya Devi Bhandari as president after eight political parties agreed to vote for him at a joint meeting: Nepali Congress, CPN-Maoist Centre, CPN-Unified Socialist, Rastriya Janata Party, Lokatantrik Samajwadi Party, Rastriya Janamorcha, Nagarik Unmukti Party, and Janamat Party.
By selecting a presidential candidate from outside the ruling alliance, Maoist Center Chairman and Prime Minister 'Prachanda' has given a blow to CPN-UML Chairperson K P Sharma Oli. The presidential election has cast considerable doubt on the viability of the seven-party ruling coalition.
During the meeting, Prime Minister Prachanda proposed supporting the Nepali Congress (NC) candidate for president, according to PTI.
He had claimed that the election of a candidate from the NC, the country's largest party, is critical to forging national unity. Prachanda's proposal had been seconded by all parties present at the meeting.
According to the rules, a candidate for President must have five Parliament Members propose his or her name and five others support the candidature.
The overall number of voters in the presidential election is 882, with 332 members of the federal parliament and 550 members of the provincial assemblies of the seven provinces voting.
A federal MP's vote weightage is 79, whereas a provincial assembly member's vote weightage is 48.
According to Nepali Congress senior leader Prakash Man Singh, the party's Central Executive Committee met on Saturday at the party's central office and formally resolved to select Poudyl as its presidential candidate.
With the backing of eight major parties, Poudyal's election victory is all but guaranteed.
On the other hand, Subhash Nembang, the former Speaker of Parliament, has been chosen by Oli's CPN-UML, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), to run for the position of president.
Prachanda and the CPN-UML formed an alliance to establish the government in November.
Prime Minister Prachanda's party, which ran as a partner in the five-party alliance led by the NC in the November 20 parliamentary and provincial elections, departed the partnership on December 25 after the NC refused to give Dahal either the presidency or the prime ministership.
The President's tenure of office shall be five years from the date of the election, and a person may be elected to the position of President only twice.
(With Inputs From PTI)
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