President issues decree on removal of constitutional obstruction; calls for PM’s election in a week

Kathmandu / July 25: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has issued an order on removing the difficulties for the election of a new government.

The President issued the order removing the difficulties as per Article 305 of the Constitution of Nepal on the basis of the recommendation Sunday by the meeting of the Council of Ministers, according to a communique issued by Assistant Spokesman at the Office of the President, Keshav Raj Ghimire.

The Office of the President has stated that the Presidential order has been issued, paving the way for the election of the next Prime Minister adopting the process in line with the Article 298 (2) or (3) as difficulties have arisen in the Constitution of Nepal to start the process of electing a new Prime Minister.

“The Article 298 of the Constitution of Nepal has provision on transitional Council of Ministers and the present Prime Minister was elected from the Legislature-Parliament as per this provision and a Council of Ministers formed under his chairmanship; however, the present Prime Minister has resigned in accordance with Article 298 (8), and since this article does not have clear provision on the election of the Prime Minister, this order on removing difficulties had to be issued for starting the process of election of a new Prime Minister,” the communique stated.

Meanwhile, President Bidya Devi Bhandari has called for the election of the new prime minister on the basis of a political consensus in a week.

She made the call in accordance with Article 305 (removal of constitutional difficulties) and Clause 2 of Article 298 of the Constitution of Nepal.

Assistant Spokesperson at the Office of the President, Keshav Prasad Ghimire said, “The President has called on the political parties represented in the Legislature-Parliament to elect a new prime minister within a week and form the government in his/her chairmanship.”

Earlier, President Bhandari had consulted the top leaders of the main political parties on the current political situation. At the consultation meeting held for nearly two hours at President’s residence, Shital Niwas, Chairman of the CPN-UML and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and Chairman of CPN (Maoist Centre) discussed the ways ahead for formation of a new government and other contemporary issues.

According to media expert to the President, Madhav Sharma, the meeting discussed how the constitution could be implemented based on a political consensus and new government formed. However, the top leaders did not respond to media persons after the meeting. RSS