Nepal PM resigns ahead of final round of local elections

Record ID: 875816

  • Title: Nepal PM resigns ahead of final round of local elections
  • Date: 24th May 2017
  • Summary: KATHMANDU, NEPAL (MAY 24, 2017) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** EXTERIOR OF THE SINGHA DURBAR, OFFICE COMPLEX THAT HOUSES THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE PRIME MINISTER PRACHANDA ENTERING MEETING HALL AND SITTING DOWN VARIOUS OF OFFICIALS LISTENING PRACHANDA TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Nepali) PRIME MINISTER PRACHANDA SAYING: "I hereby today and in this moment declare the resignation from the prime minister's post. I am going to the president to tender my resignation right now." CAMERAS PRACHANDA WALKING OUT, GETTING INTO CAR MOTORCADE LEAVING
  • Embargoed: 7th June 2017 14:53
  • Keywords: president resignation Prachanda prime minister Nepal
  • Location: KATHMANDU, NEPAL
  • City: KATHMANDU, NEPAL
  • Country: Nepal
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016I78DAD
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Maoist Nepali Prime Minister Prachanda resigned on Wednesday (May 24), barely nine months after coming to power, creating a leadership vacuum weeks before the second round of local elections, the first to be held in more than two decades.
    Prachanda's exit, which had been expected under a power-sharing deal with the Nepali Congress party, could disrupt the schedule for the final phase of municipal and village assembly polls set for June 14.
    Wearing a bowl-shaped Nepali cap, Prachanda, 62, a former rebel commander, announced his resignation in a televised address to the nation after the opposition Communist UML party threatened to block his speech in parliament, saying the government had created some local and municipal bodies without due legal process.
    The choice of a new leader could take several days as politicians are required to spend a week to agree on a consensus candidate - a highly unlikely scenario - before lawmakers are asked to elect a successor in a parliament where no party commands an absolute majority.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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