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Nepal: Maoist leader picked as PM

MAOIST leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal was elected by Nepal’s parliament yesterday to lead a coalition government as the country’s new prime minister.

Parliamentary speaker Onsari Gharti Magar announced that Mr Dahal had received 363 votes, with 210 against.

He is backed by the conservative Nepali Congress, the largest party, and several smaller parties.

It is Mr Dahal’s second stint as prime minister. His first tenure ended in 2009, when he resigned over differences with the president on the dismissal of an army chief.

He was known as Prachanda when his Communist Party (Maoist) led an insurgency for a decade until 2006. The rebels signed a UN-monitored peace agreement then, after more than 17,000 people were killed.

The Maoist head succeeds Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) leader Khadga Prasad Oli, whose coalition government that took office last October was brought down last month by a vote of no confidence.

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