KATHMANDU, May 10: Lawmakers close to the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led faction of the ruling CPN-UML have decided to abstain from voting in parliament today.
Prime Minister K P Oli is scheduled to seek a vote of confidence in the Special Session of the House of Representatives scheduled to begin at 1 AM today. A meeting of the lawmakers close to the Nepal-led faction of the party held at Singha Durbar on Monday morning made a decision to this effect.
22 UML lawmakers including eight close to Oli-led faction vote...
Earlier on Sunday, the Nepal-led faction on Sunday had given an ultimatum to meet their demands by 9 am Monday or they would be forced to take an ‘unpleasant’ decision. Although Chairman Oli has made no response to meet their demands, the lawmakers close to the Nepal-led faction have decided to put on hold their resignation for now.
The decision of lawmakers close to the Nepal-led faction comes shortly after Prime Minister Oli urged them not to take unreasonable moves in haste.
Taking to his official twitter account on Monday morning, Prime Minister Oli asked lawmakers not to take any unreasonable move in haste. “If there are any misunderstanding, differences or dissatisfaction it could be resolved through dialogues,” he further wrote. “Let’s discuss, hold dialogues and resolve the problem.”
While this will put Prime Minister Oli in further minority, the resignation of lawmakers close to the Nepal-led faction will make it easy for the opposition alliance that is struggling to garner requisite votes to oust Oli from power. The number of lawmakers who resign from the post is deducted from the existing strength of parliament to determine majority in parliament.
