?Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba announces his resignation at the Prime Minister's residence in Kathmandu, capital of Nepal, Feb. 15, 2018. Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Thursday stepped down to pave the way to the left alliance for formation of a new government. (Xinhua/Sunil Sharma)
KATHMANDU, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Thursday stepped down to pave the way to the left alliance for formation of a new government.
After making an address to the nation following a cabinet meeting this morning, Deuba put forth his resignation in the wake of completion of the electoral processes of provinces, House of Representatives and National Assembly.
Election Commission had submitted the final results of the federal and provincial assembly elections to President Bidya Devi Bhandari Wednesday evening.
"Under my leadership, the three-tiers of crucial elections were held successfully, which has set the foundation for a long transition," he said in the address, highlighting the major roles of the incumbent government.
Deuba was sworn-in as Nepal's 40th prime minister on June last year under the alliance with CPN Maoist Centre, replacing Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
Deuba served as the prime minister of Nepal from 1995 to 1997, from 2001 to 2002 and from 2004 to 2005. Deuba was sacked by the then King Gyanendra Shah in 2005 over failing to hold elections and bring Maoist rebels to the negotiating table.
Deuba's exit came at a time when the Himalayan country is implementing the federal set-up as provisioned in the constitution promulgated in September 2017.
Nepal successfully held three-tier elections of local bodies, provinces and parliament in 2017 under the leadership of Deuba, giving high expectations that the country will usher in much-needed political stability and development.
Deuba is lauded for bringing the agitating Madhes based parties who were against the new constitution to the election board.
However, Deuba's Nepali Congress faced humiliating defeat in the polls as the party President Deuba is blamed for his poor leadership role.
The opposition parties had been lashing out Deuba for sticking in power for almost two months even after the completion of elections. He is also criticized for taking some controversial decisions as the outgoing prime minister.
Meanwhile, CPN-UML, which emerged as the largest political party in the elections, has officially claimed for the formation of the new government with support from the CPN Maoist Centre.
The CPN-UML Standing Committee meeting held on Wednesday decided to put forth its Chairman KP Sharma Oli as the next prime minister. The left alliance have claimed for premiership afore President Bhandari this morning.
