Nepali King Appoints New Prime Minister

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, June 05, 2003

Nepali King Appoints New Prime Minister

Nepali King Gyanendra has appointed Surya Bahadur Thapa as prime minister, who has mandate to form a new Cabinet in the near future, the secretariat of the Royal Palace announced Wednesday.

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Nepali King Gyanendra has appointed Surya Bahadur Thapa as prime minister, who has mandate to form a new Cabinet in the near future, the secretariat of the Royal Palace announced Wednesday.

"The king appointed Surya Bahadur Thapa as prime minister Wednesday in accordance with the Constitution," said a statement issued by the Principal Press Secretariat of the Royal Palace.

"The king has ordered Thapa to form a suitable Council of Ministers representating all sectors of the country and gave all the executive power to the new government," the statement added.

Thapa, 74, ex-chairman and founding father of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), has been appointed as prime minister separately in 1965 and 1979 during the Panchayat period, and also in 1997.

King Gyanendra last Friday accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand, and asked Chand and all the Cabinet members to remain in their posts until a new government was formed.

Meanwhile, the king gave all the political parties 72 hours time, beginning from last Friday night, to nominate a suitable candidate for the post of prime minister.

He rejected the nomination of Madhav Kumar Nepal, secretary general of the Communist Party Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist, whowas backed by some main political parties in the country.

Chand's resignation is considered by political analysts here asa move under the pressure of some major political parties in the country to form an all-party government with full executive powers.

Chand, also a senior leader of the RPP, has been named as primeminister twice before October last year. He was the last prime minister of the 1960-1990 Panchayat period, and then became prime minister in a coalition government in 1997.

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