The Balancing Act

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Veteran communist politician Khadga Prasad Oli was sworn in as Nepal’s prime minister Monday, after his predecessor and former coalition partner Pushpa Kamal Dahal lost a vote of confidence last week, Agence France-Presse reported.

Oli, head of the Communist Party of Nepal – Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), returned as prime minister for the fourth time after his party formed a coalition with the center-left Nepali Congress earlier this month.

Following the creation of the coalition, the CPN-UML withdrew its support for Dahal’s governing alliance and forced him into a confidence vote. Dahal lost that vote Friday having repeatedly switched coalition partners since being elected prime minister in late 2022.

The CPN-UML and Nepali Congress now hold more than the 138 seats needed for majority support in Nepal’s 275-member lower house of parliament, according to Nikkei Asia.

Under a coalition agreement, Oli will share the prime minister’s post with Nepali Congress leader Sher Bahadur Deuba until the next legislative elections scheduled for 2027.

Deuba previously served five terms as Nepal’s prime minister.

Oli’s new task will be to balance Nepal’s relations with its two big neighbors, China and India, both vying for control of the Himalayan nation. While he has kept relations cordial between the two, Oli has sought closer ties with Beijing, observers noted.

During his term as prime minister between 2015 and 2016, he signed a trade and transit agreement with China, which ended India’s monopoly of Nepal’s foreign trade.

Meanwhile, analysts said that the leadership change underscored the political volatility in Nepal, which has had 14 prime ministers since 2008 when it abolished the monarchy and became a federal republic.