Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was under pressure to withdraw a recent ordinance.
New Delhi:
Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli today recommended the dissolution of the country’s parliament after he was cornered over an executive order issued last week, reports say. The decision was made during an emergency meeting of the Cabinet on Sunday morning.
“PM Oli was under pressure to withdraw an ordinance related to the Constitutional Council Act that he had issued on Tuesday and got endorsed by President Bidya Devi Bhandari the same day,” The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported today. It also said that today’s Cabinet meeting was expected to recommend the replacement of the ordinance.
The Prime Minister’s Nepal Communist Party has said he had lost majority support, according to a Reuters report. “The prime minister has lost the majority in the parliamentary party, central committee and the secretariat of the party,” said Bishnu Rijal, a Central Committee member of the NPC, according to the report.
PM Oli could not immediately be reached for comment. The leader, whose handling of the coronavirus crisis has been criticised as the economy takes a beating, had come under pressure to either leave the premiership or the reins of the party, Reuters reported.
The next general election in the Himalayan country is due in 2022.
