Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Oli resigned on Sunday, nine months after coming to power, minutes before parliament was to vote on a no confidence motion he was likely to lose.
Oli, 64, was forced to quit after allies of his multi-party coalition deserted the government accusing him of not honouring power sharing deals that helped install him as prime minister in October.
“I have already submitted my resignation to the President when I met her before coming to the House,” said Oli in a speech in the Parliament, just ahead of the scheduled no confidence vote.
The motion filed on 13 July was filed after 183 Nepali Congress parliamentarians, 70 from Maoist and three of CPN-United put their signatures on the No-Confidence motion in the 601-member Constituent Assembly.
The impasse was reportedly reached after PM Oli backtracked on a verbal agreement he had reached with the Maoist chief in May to hand over leadership of the government to the latter after the Parliament’s endorsing of the new budget.
Neighbours India and China compete for influence in Nepal and are both likely to be concerned by the prospect of increased instability in a country struggling to rebuild itself after a devastating earthquake last year.
(With agency inputs.)
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