Khadga Oli, the prime minister of Nepal, took office for the fourth time

After his Communist Party and the center-left Nepali Congress formed a coalition government, Khadga Oli took the oath of office as prime minister of Nepal on Monday. This marked a change in power within the frequently unstable parliament.

The 72-year-old Oli, the leader of the CPN-UML, the second-largest party in the legislature, is back in office as prime minister for the fourth time.

In the past, Oli tread a careful path between the adversaries, being friendly to both but reaching out to Beijing to lessen Nepal’s reliance on New Delhi. The Himalayan republic, home to around 30 million people, is dwarfed by its massive neighbors, India and China.

“I, KP Sharma Oli, in the name of the country and people, pledge that I will be loyal to the constitution… and fulfil my duty as the prime minister,” Oli said, as President Ram Poudel administered the oath of office.

Following his initial election in 2015, he was reappointed for a brief while in 2021 and then reelected in 2018 under an unusual majority government.

Barely eighteen months after taking office, his predecessor and erstwhile ally in the coalition government, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, was stripped of a vote of confidence on Friday.

After Oli’s party lost its backing, Dahal, a former Maoist guerilla commander best known by his alias Prachanda (“The Fierce One”), was forced to resign.

Instead, Oli worked out an agreement with the Nepali Congressman Sher Bahadur Deuba.

Later in the parliamentary term, he has pledged to hand over the position to the 78-year-old former five-time prime minister, Deuba.

Next general elections in Nepal are scheduled for 2027.

AFP