Maoist Center chairman takes office as Nepal's new PM

Nepal's new prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal attends an oath-taking ceremony at the President's Office in Kathmandu, Nepal, Dec. 26, 2022. (Photo by Sulav Shrestha/Xinhua)

KATHMANDU, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Pushpa Kamal Dahal, chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center), took office as the country's new prime minister on Monday afternoon.

"President Bidya Devi Bhandari has administered the oath of office and secrecy to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal," Sagar Acharya, spokesperson for the President's Office in Kathmandu, told Xinhua.

"Three deputy prime ministers and four ministers also took the oath today," he said.

The three deputy prime ministers are Bishnu Poudel from the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), Narayan Kaji Shrestha from the CPN (Maoist Center) and Rabi Lamichhane from Rastriya Swatantra Party, who also hold the separate portfolios of finance, physical infrastructure and transport and home affairs.

Nepal's President Bidya Devi Bhandari (1st L) administers the oath of office to the country's new prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal (1st R) at the President's Office in Kathmandu, Nepal, Dec. 26, 2022. (Photo by Sulav Shrestha/Xinhua)

Dahal, also known as Prachanda, was appointed the prime minister on Sunday evening by the president after he garnered the support of 169 lawmakers in the 275-strong House of Representatives.

The new prime minister needs to win a vote of confidence in the lower house within 30 days.

The new coalition comprising seven political parties has three other ministers from the CPN-UML and one from the Janamat Party.

No single party won a majority of seats in the lower house in the Nov. 20 general elections.