Powersharing Transitional Government – 2008
2008
After the Constituent Assembly elections took place in April 2008 and the Maoist party established itself as the largest party in the assembly. A delay in the formation of a consensus government prompted the Fifth Amendment to be added to the interim constitution. The Fifth Amendment was adopted on 13 July 2008. It provided the basis for the formation of a majoritarian government.1 Political parties could not agree on the consensus government and therefore the election for the prime minster took place on 15 August 2008. The Maoist leader Puspa Kamal Dahal was elected Prime Minister with 464 out of 601 votes. His opponent, Sher Bahadur Deuba from the Nepali Congress (NC) party , received 113 votes. After the CA elections, the NC decided not to join a national government and remained in the opposition, in particular because the Maoists and the NC could not agree on division of Cabinet Ministries. The NC did not join the government without getting the Defense Ministry in its share, which the Maoists declined. The Maoist leader Dahal was sworn in as Prime Minister on 18 August 2008.2
The consensus and power-sharing government that was expected to work until the final draft of the new constitution did not last. This is the reversal from the provision of 2006 CPA and the Interim Constitution of 2007.