Nepal president calls for govt formation within a week

 Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari has asked the country's political parties to prove majority within a week after last month's national election.

In a statement, Bhandari asked the newly-elected members of the House of Representatives to stake a claim for the post of Prime Minister with the support of two or more political parties by December 25, The Kathmandu Post reported.

"As no single party commands a clear majority in the House of Representatives as per the Article 76 (1) of the Constitution of Nepal, 2015, the President, as per Article 76 (2) of the Constitution of Nepal, 2015, calls on House of Representative members to show a majority in order to be appointed as the Prime Minister of Nepal with the support of two or more political parties of the House of Representatives by 5 pm on December 25, 2022," read the statement, as quoted by The Kathmandu Post.

This call to present the majority through the support of parties represented in the federal legislature comes after Nepal's Election Commission submitted the final results of the federal elections to the President on Thursday.

On December 14, Election Commission published the final result of the parliamentary elections held on November 20 this year.

The Commission made public the results of the elections held under the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) and Proportional Representation (PR) categories. The CPN-UML won the highest number of seats under the PR category followed by the Nepali Congress (NC) in the elections held on November 20.

The UML garnered 34 seats, NC 32, Maoist Center 14, Rastriya Swatantra Party 13, Rastriya Prajatantra Party 7, Janata Samajwadi Party and Janamat Party 5 each under the PR system.

As per the country's constitution, Nepal's President can appoint a party leader who can complete the majority mark by getting support from other incumbent parties. Notably, the government formed with support from two or more than that is mandated to testify the support in parliament within 30 days of its formation.

If the government fails to get endorsed, then the President should give another chance to garner a majority. Upon repeated failure, the President can dissolve the House of Representatives and call for fresh elections within 6 months.

The constitution also has fixed the number of ministers in the centre with a number limit of 25 seats, including the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, ministers, state ministers and minister aide.