Sushil Koirala elected Prime MinisterNepali Congress President Sushil Koirala has been elected the new prime minister of Nepal on Monday. Koirala received 405 votes from the 553 members of the Legislature-Parliament.
Koirala was the only candidate in the election and was poised to win today after sealing a deal with the second-largest party, CPN-UML, on Sunday evening. Apart from its own 194 votes, Nepali Congress had also successfully garnered support of UML, RPP, MJF-Loktantri, CPN-United and CPN-ML.
Koirala promised to complete the constitution within a year and implement the past agreements of the peace process. He also vowed to hold local elections within six months.
Koirala’s name as the prime ministe candidate was proposed by NC Vice President Ram Chandra Poudel, and was supported by UML Parliamentary Party leader, KP Oli.
This paves way for formation of a majority government under Koirala’s leadership, in partnership with CPN-UML. The country will now get an elected government following the demise of the first Constituent Assembly more than 20 months ago.
Koirala was born in 1939 and joined politics and NC at the age of 15 in 1954. After the royal takeover of 1960, Koirala went into exile for 16 years and lived in India before returning to Nepal with the team of late NC President, Bisweshor Prasad Koirala, in 1976.
Koirala became the central committee member of NC in 1977 and has continued to hold a place in the committee. He was appointed General Secretary of NC in 1996 and Acting President in 2008. In 2010, he was elected the President of NC.