KATHMANDU: Nepal on Friday announced plans to elect a new prime minister this weekend, three weeks after the country adopted a new constitution that triggered deadly protests and a border blockade.
Incumbent prime minister Sushil Koirala had pledged to step down after the constitution -- Nepal's first to be drawn up by elected representatives -- was adopted on September 20.
He announced on October 2 he would ask the president to begin the process of forming a new government.
After parties failed to agree on a consensus candidate for prime minister, President Ram Baran Yadav asked parliament to vote, speaker Subash Chandra Nembang told lawmakers.
"I have fixed the election for the post of the prime minister... on Sunday at 11 in the morning," Nembang said.
Parties have a day to register their nominations. If none of the candidates is able to secure a simple majority, the speaker will set a date for re-elections to be held.
The constitution marks the final stage in a peace process that began when Maoist rebels laid down their arms in 2006 after a decade-long insurgency.
The charter was meant to end years of inequality and cement peace but bitter disputes over its provisions have sparked violent protests and a blockade of a key trade route by demonstrators that has forced nationwide fuel rationing.
More than 40 people have been killed in clashes between police and protesters representing ethnic minorities who say a new federal structure laid out in the constitution will leave them under-represented in the national parliament.
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