k|wfgdGqL lgjf; afn'jf6f/df k|wfgdGqL tyf sfFu|]; ;efklt ;'zLn sf]O/fnfsf] ;efkltTjdf z'qmaf/ g]kfnL sf+u|];sf] s]Gb|Lo ;ldltsf] j}7s a:b} . tl:a/ M /f]zg ;fksf]6f, /f;; A central committee meeting of NC on Friday allowed its top three leaders to choose a prime ministerial candidate. Photo: RSS

Amidst a crippling blockade unofficially imposed by India, Nepal’s Parliament has begun a process to elect the new Prime Minister.

Speaker Subhas Nembang on Friday announced a Parliament meeting for Sunday to elect the new Prime Minister. He also appointed Parliament Secretariat’s General Secretary Manohar Prasad Bhattarai as the election officer to conduct a vote in the house.

The process to elect the new Prime Minister started after political parties missed a one-week deadline given by President Ram Baran Yadav to forge a consensus on the new leadership.

As per a clause of the recently-promulgated constitution, political parties were supposed to reach a consensus on the new leadership within the first week after the first post-statute parliament session.  Political parties’ failure to find a consensus candidate paved the way for President Yadav to initiate the process to choose the new Prime Minister through a vote.

CPN (UML) has presented its Chair KP Sharma Oli as a candidate for the new Prime Minister, hoping to get support from the UCPN (M) and other fringe parties.

The UCPN (M) has decided to back Oli’s candidacy but with a precondition that the UML must be ready to address demands of Madhesis and Tharus by readjusting federal boundaries before formation of the new government.

Oli, the only senior UML leader who has not been able to stay in Baluwatar so far, seems ready to go to any length to become the new Prime Minister. But even with the UCPN (M)’s backing, the road ahead is not easy for him.

The UML has been claiming that it had an unwritten deal with the NC, and Oli should be allowed to lead the new government as per that gentlemen agreement.

But the NC has refused to have made any official or unofficial deal with the UML to allow Oli to lead the post-constitution government.

On Friday, a central committee meeting of the NC allowed the party’s top three leaders Sushil Koirala,  Sher Bahadur Deuba and Ram Chandra Poudel to choose its prime ministerial candidate. The NC sources say Koirala is likely to be presented a prime ministerial candidate.

Without the NC’s support, Oli can still be elected as the new Prime Minister. But his coalition government will be very weak and might collapse even if a fringe party withdraws its support to him.

As political parties fight for the leadership of the new government, the most pressing issue of addressing demands of Madhesi parties through talks seems to have taken a backseat.

After two unsuccessful meetings early this week, a negotiation team of the top three parties and representatives of the agitating Madhesi parties had decided to meet again on Friday. But talks have not resumed yet.