KATHMANDU (Kyodo) -- Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, a veteran Communist politician, was appointed as Nepal's new prime minister on Sunday, a few days after his predecessor Pushpa Kamal Dahal lost a parliamentary vote of confidence and was ousted from power.
President Ramchandra Paudel named Oli, 72, chief of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), as the country's 14th prime minister since the Himalayan country abolished a 239-year-old monarchy in 2008.
Oli has the backing of the Nepali Congress, the largest political party, giving him majority support in Parliament.
Oli, a moderate Communist, signed a trade and transit agreement with China during his first term as prime minister in 2015-2016, ending India's monopoly over landlocked Nepal's foreign trade. He has the image of a nationalist hard-liner.
Political developments in Nepal are closely watched by China and India, which pour development aid and infrastructure investment in Nepal and jostle for geopolitical influence.
Earlier this month, Oli's UML, which is the second-largest party in Parliament, signed a deal with the Nepali Congress to form a new coalition.
Together, the two parties surpass the key number of 138 required for majority support in Nepal's 275-member lower house of Parliament.
The parties' agreement stipulated that Oli and Sher Bahadur Deuba, president of the Nepali Congress, would share the prime minister's post until the next elections, due in 2027.
Following the deal, the UML, Dahal's key ally in his governing coalition, withdrew its support and forced him to take a confidence vote. Dahal lost the vote following his repeated switch of coalition partners since being elected prime minister in late 2022.
