Runoff elections for prime minister Friday; other details

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 22 July: Second round voting for prime minister will be held Friday after Wednesday’s inconclusive elections amid chances of another standoff.
Maoist Chairman Prachanda and Nepali Congress Vice-chairman Ram Chandra Paudel didn’t get the required majority 300 votes in the 599-member parliament to get elected.
The NC, the second largest party in parliament has 198 votes
while Maoists, the largest party, has 237 seats in parliament; 236 legislators from UML, Madesh front and smaller parties didn’t vote for Prachanda while 235 legislators abstained during the vote for Paudel.
Speaker after speaker denounced leaders and three parties for unprincipled power politics sidelining the drafting of the constitution and the delayed peace process.
Caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal who proposed the candidacy of UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal on behalf of the party heading the government withdrew the candidacy of Khanal even without a vote as it became clear he wouldn’t muster the two-third vote the party sought for his election.
He would have been elected by the constitutionally required majority vote.
The two-third move wasn’t required by law but UML said it was taking a ‘principled’ decision to form a government of ‘national consensus’ to complete the peace process and promulgate a constitution to institutionalize a republic.
The party argued two past majority governments failed to deliver although
One legislator said the nine-month Prachanda government had the required two-third majority support but yet couldn’t deliver.
Because of the party stand, it’ll now be difficult for the UML to participate in Friday’s election to elect the third prime minister after proclaiming a republic in parliament.
Four Madesh parties controlling 89 seats played a crucial by staying neutral Wednesday reminding three major parties they had broken promises by not implementing terai related promises signed during the Girija Prasad Koirala era.
Neither the Maoists nor Congress will get the required majority 300 votes should UML and the Madesh front decide to boycott Friday’s vote; UML said it will abstain in Friday’s vote.
NC and Maoists continued lobbying for support for their candidates in Friday’s crucial vote while four parties of the Madesh front began meeting Thursday to draw up their strategy for Friday’s vote.
The country will have no effective government if the second round of voting is again inconclusive Friday.
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Paramour poisons perceived rivals
BHAIRAHAWA, July 22: -
Two Maoist combatants from Krishnasen Smriti Brigade in Rupandehi, whose bodies were found in a nearby forest last Thursday, were murdered by a fellow combatant, police said on Wednesday, The Kathmandu Post reports..

Investigating Bhaira-hawa police found that the victims—Bishnu Neupane and Chandra Bahadur Bohara—were poisoned by Madhav Ghimire.

Superintendent of Police Sher Bahadur Basnet said Ghimire was secretly in love with Bohara’s wife Samjhana and was planning to marry her. “Ghimire perceived Bohara as an obstacle between him and Samjhana so he committed the crime,” he said, adding that another dead, Neupane, accidentally got victimised in the plot.

Ghimire had invited Bohara for a drink to the Charpala forest, roughly one-and-a-half kilometres northeast of the brigade, since drinking is forbidden in the camp.

“After Bohara and Neupane got drunk, Ghimire fed them with poisoned Cola,” SP Basnet said. “After the duo fell unconscious after drinking poison-laced drinks, Ghimire first stifled Neupane and then hit Bohara’s head against a rock to make sure they were dead.”

Both Ghimire and Samjhana, who admitted to the crime, are in police custody.
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Woman communist lawmaker attempts suicide

Kathmandu, 22 July: Sarada Nepali, 47, a lawmaker from CPN (ML) attempted a failed suicide Wednesday by consuming poison.
Her condition is stable at TU Teaching Hospital where she’s undergoing treatment.
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Passport controversy ends

Kathmandu, 22 July: The controversy over certificate presented by Oberthru Technology, a France based security company Wednesday after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received a letter from the Korean government confirming the use of PARK and OBC personalaized printers in Korea, Republica reports.
The ministry wrote to the company Wednesday asking it to supply machine readable passports submitting a 2.5 percent performance bond.
The ministry has asked the printer to respond within 15 days.
The government and the ministry first awarded a controversial contract to an Indian government security press to print passports without submitting an international tender.
The government, amid protests, withdrew the illegal order for which the India embassy in the capital lobbied.
The government couldn’t meet an ICAO deadline to replace hand-written passports in Nepal’s bid to help fight international terrorism.
Nepal, as a responsible state, failed miserably in its commitment to help right and curb international terrorism.
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TRADE, COMMERCE, ECONOMY

Nepse gains 3.51 points

Kathmandu, 22 July: Nepse gained 3.51 points at the end of trading Wednesday.
On the fourth day of five-day trading, the market closed at 472.29 points.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

“How does a KP Oli-led UML government with Nepali Congress backing compare with a Jhala Nath Khanal-led UML government supposed to by the Maoists? Or, for that matter why should we get ready to rejoice that Baburam Bhattarai will be the prime minister in the place of Prachanda or vice versa, and why should it matter that the Maoists will receive the support of this party or that? How will Nepal benefit to have Ram Chandra Paudel or Bijaya Kumar Gachedhar or Upendra Yadav or Kul Bahadur Gurung as the next Prime Minister?”

(Deepak Thapa, The Kathmandu Post, 22 July)
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