Nepal prez gives 6 days to parties to form govt

As Nepal’s main parties struggled to form a national unity government, President Ram Baran Yadav on Friday gave them another six days to strike a deal, the second such extension to the original November 29 deadline.

Yadav’s move came a day after crucial talks between the ruling alliance comprising UCPN-Maoist and Joint Madhesi Front and opposition Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML on naming a consensus Prime Ministerial candidate failed, despite being given an extra seven days to do so after they missed the original deadline.

“The President has extended the deadline for recommending the name of the consensus candidate of Prime Minister by another six days as per the request made by the major political parties,” his office said in a statement.

The deadline was issued to political parties to form a national consensus government that would replace the incumbent government led by Premier Baburam Bhattarai of UCPN-Maoist.
Yadav last week extended the November 29 deadline till Thursday after the leaders of political parties said they needed some more time for reaching a consensus.

However, despite hectic negotiation throughout the week the parties failed to choose a prime ministerial candidate. The deadline was extended for the second time, shortly after a meeting between President Yadav and Maoist chief Prachanda this morning.