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Nepal Ends Long Stalemate in Picking Prime Minister Nepal Ends Long Stalemate in Picking Prime Minister
(about 3 hours later)
NEW DELHI — After years of deadlock, Nepal’s Parliament on Monday elected Sushil Koirala, a longtime democratic activist who was involved in a famous 1973 Nepali plane hijacking, as the country’s new prime minister.NEW DELHI — After years of deadlock, Nepal’s Parliament on Monday elected Sushil Koirala, a longtime democratic activist who was involved in a famous 1973 Nepali plane hijacking, as the country’s new prime minister.
Mr. Koirala, 75, is the president of the Nepali Congress Party, which emerged from elections in November with the most seats in the country’s Constituent Assembly. Mr. Koirala won more than two-thirds of the legislators’ votes, with 405 voting for him and 148 opposed. Mr. Koirala, 75, is the president of the Nepali Congress party, which emerged from elections in November with the most seats in the country’s Constituent Assembly. Mr. Koirala won more than two-thirds of the legislators’ votes, with 405 voting for him and 148 opposed.
Mr. Koirala’s impressive victory gives hope that Nepal’s Constituent Assembly may finally finish the job of writing a constitution, which must pass by a two-thirds majority. “Koirala’s election as prime minister completes an important chapter arising out of the 2013 elections,” said Ghanashyam Ojha, a spokesman for the Nepal Investment Board.
Born in Biratnagar in eastern Nepal, Mr. Koirala is a member of one of the country’s most storied political families. His uncle Girija Prasad Koirala was prime minister four times. An unsmiling man whose dour speeches elicit little enthusiasm even among supporters, Mr. Koirala is widely respected for his years in jails and in exile fighting for democracy in Nepal. He is unmarried and lives a spartan life, an attractive quality for those angered by lavish living among the previously dominant Maoists.
In 1973, Mr. Koirala and his uncle helped hijack a plane bound for the capital, Katmandu, from Biratnagar. The plane was diverted to India, and the Koiralas stole more than 3 million Indian rupees to help finance an armed struggle against King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah, said Bipul Pokharel, a close Koirala aide. Mr. Koirala was not always so dour. In his youth, he took acting lessons in hopes of becoming an overseas movie star. King Mahendra’s coup in 1960 dashed Mr. Koirala’s acting dreams, and he spent the next 16 years in political exile in India.
Mr. Koirala has spent six years in Indian and Nepali jails. In 1973, Mr. Koirala was among the hijackers who forced a plane flying to Katmandu from Biratnagar to divert to India, where he and the other hijackers made off with 3 million Indian rupees to finance the fight for democracy. He was jailed for six years in India and Nepal as a result.
Mr. Koirala’s elevation is a landmark event in Nepal’s painful path toward democracy. A 10-year civil war ended in 2006 with an agreement to hold elections, from which the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) emerged as the dominant party. But years of disagreements and widespread accusations of corruption against the Maoists led to their being routed in a second round of elections, held in November. Born in Biratnagar, a center of jute manufacturing in Nepal’s eastern region, Mr. Koirala is a member of one of Nepal’s most storied political families. A relative, Girija Prasad Koirala, was the country’s prime minister four times.
The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), the second-largest party in Parliament, threw its support behind Mr. Koirala, while the Maoists joined the monarchist Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal in voting against him. Mr. Koirala’s election was made possible after Nepal’s two dominant parties, the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), both centrist movements, put aside weeks of acrimonious wrangling and signed a seven-point accord promising, among other things, to adopt a constitution within a year and allow the present president and vice president to remain in office until then.
Mr. Koirala’s election was opposed by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the pro-monarchist Rastriya Prajatantra Party and some smaller parties. But Kanak Mani Dixit, a Nepali political commentator, said that Mr. Koirala’s comfortable margin of victory gave hope that the Constituent Assembly might finally finish the job of writing a constitution, which must pass by a two-thirds majority.
“Koirala is going to have to gather all of his skills to persuade his partners to stick with him in governance and constitution writing,” Mr. Dixit said.
Ruled for centuries by monarchs, Nepal has 125 ethnic groups, 127 spoken languages, scores of castes and three distinct ecosystems that have long divided its 27 million people into a blinding array of feuding communities, making political consensus difficult and damaging the country’s economy. About 120 parties competed in the election last year.
A 10-year civil war between the Maoists and the government ended in 2006, but the resulting Constituent Assembly spent four years trying to write a constitution without success, leading to political paralysis. A technocratic government was chosen last year to oversee new elections. The Nepali Congress pulled out a surprising victory, with the Marxist-Leninists a close second. The two most divisive issues remaining in the writing of the constitution are whether to adopt an executive presidency and how to divide the country into smaller political units.