Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ on Wednesday resigned after a brief stint of nine months, honouring a power sharing understanding reached between his party and the ruling partner, Nepali Congress.
Prachanda announced his resignation while addressing the nation in a live telecast. It was his second stint as Prime Minister of Nepal. Prachanda became Nepal’s 39th prime minister after forging an alliance with the Nepali Congress in 2016.
Prachanda, the Chairman of Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), had reached an understanding with Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba that he would step down as Prime Minister and hand over the leadership to him after nine months. The government was to be run on a rotational basis between the two until the parliamentary elections in 2018.
Millions of Nepalese on May 14 voted in the country’s first local-level polls in two decades as the Himalayan nation took a crucial step towards cementing democracy amid political turmoil.