Prime Minister
On 3 February 2011, after seven months of political gridlock in which no candidate could muster enough votes to be elected as Prime Minister, Jhala Nath Khanal was elected as Prime Minister by the Constituent Assembly. Khanal received 368 votes in the 601-member parliament, while his nearest rivals, Ram Chandra Poudel of the Nepali Congress and Bijay Kumar Gachhedar of Madhesi People's Rights Forum (Democratic), got 122 votes and 67 votes respectively.
Nepal had no proper government since Madhav Kumar Nepal resigned in June 2010. Sixteen rounds of voting in parliament since July were unable to produce a new prime minister as no political party could muster a majority. However, on 3 February 2011 the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (Nepal's largest party) withdrew its candidate, Pushpa Kamal Dahal (“Prachanda”), and backed Khanal, who as a result became the third Prime Minister of Nepal since it became a republic in 2008.
Khanal's immediate tasks as Prime Minister included the preparation of a new republican constitution by a May 28 deadline, and negotiating the future of some 20,000 Maoist combatants.
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