Aug 22, 2016, at 10:07 pm
On August 3, 2016, Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre (CPN-Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal was elected as the new Prime Minister of Nepal after garnering 63.35 per cent of votes in Parliament. Out of 595 lawmakers, 573 cast their votes in the poll, of which 363 were in Dahal's favour. Dahal was backed by the largest party in the House, Nepali Congress (NC), constituents of the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF), the Federal Alliance, and some fringe parties. 210 lawmakers, including those of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) and Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP-N) voted against the Maoist leader. This is Dahal's second stint as Prime Minister; he led the Government after the first Constituent Assembly (CA) elections from August 18, 2008, to May 25, 2009.