Nepal elects new PM
Nepal's fractious lawmakers elected veteran politician Sushil Koirala as prime minister yesterday, with the 75-year-old promising to steer through a long-delayed new constitution for the Himalayan nation within a year.
The silver-haired bachelor easily won a vote in the constituent assembly, which was elected last November in only the second national polls since the end of a civil war in 2006.
Koirala, from the family that dominates Nepal's oldest party the Nepali Congress, won 405 out of 553 votes cast after winning the support of the influential leftist Unified Marxist-Leninist at the weekend.
"We will deliver the constitution through agreement, unity and reconciliation," Koirala, who was once jailed over the hijacking of a plane in India, told reporters after the election.
"We would try to include all the parties in the process and would work to safeguard peace and democracy," said the partly Indian-educated politician, wearing his trademark black cap and glasses.
He earlier told the assembly that the impoverished nation would rely on its two giant neighbours, China to the north and India to the south, "as well as other friends to complete our responsibilities".
Since Nepal's first post-war elections in 2008, five prime ministers have served brief terms, the country has had no leader for long periods, and the constituent assembly has been perpetually deadlocked.
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