Nepalese parliament dissolves, new mid-term elections to be held in November

Nepal's President Bidya Devi Bhandari dissolved parliament on Saturday, rejecting demands by both the ruling and opposition parties to form a government. This political instability has come as Nepal faces a devastating wave of Covid-19, with fresh general elections slated for November this year.

A presidential statement issued post-midnight said, “The president has dissolved the House of Representatives and ordered the first phase of general elections on November 12 and the second phase on November 19.”

The unexpected news comes after a presidential statement said that both the Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli and opposition leader Sher Bahadur Deuba were open to prove a majority in order to form a new government by Friday.

The president had to withdraw Oli's stake to form the government due to legal advice, so the parliament was dissolved.

Oli was recently reinstated as the Prime Minister after the opposition parties, led by Sher Bahadur Deuja of the Nepali Congress, failed to form a coalition government.

President Bhandari stated that Oli cannot be declared the PM because Deuba possess the endorsement of 26 House of Representative members of the CPN-UML and 12 members of the Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP), who have been listed in Oli's list as well.

Even Deuba cannot be named as PM as UML Chairman along with the parliamentary party chief, according to the president, have written to refuse to accept the signatures of the said 26 UML members.

The decision was taken based on the Cabinet's advice, which was led by Prime Minister KP Oli. The voting will likely occur between November 12th and 18th, as per official reports.