Nepal is currently gearing up for the Presidential election as a move to elect its new President in the place of current President Bidya Devi Bhandari.<\/p>\n
The Election Commission has announced March 13, 2018 as the date for conducting Presidential elections after a round of discussions with the newly-appointed Prime Minister<\/a> KP Sharma Oli and various political parties, informed EC Spokesman Navaraj Dhakal.<\/p>\n “There will be a separate election to choose new Vice-President a week after the presidential election,” added Dhakal.<\/p>\n The new President and Vice-President of the country will be elected through a voting by Electoral College that includes members of the Federal Parliament and Provincial Assemblies, a month after the formation of Federal Parliament<\/a>.<\/p>\n These elections for the posts of President and Vice-President will see the replacement of Bidya Devi Bhandari and Nanda Bahadur Pun whose tenure began in October 2015 and will be ending very soon.<\/p>\n These polls are also crucial for the implementation of the Nepal\u2019s new Constitution promulgated in 2015.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, as per the recent update, the Left Alliance Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) has expressed its willingness for Constitutional amendments<\/a>. <\/p>\n CPN-UML has reportedly agreed to the amendment draft made on the basis of recommendations by Upendra Yadav led Federal Socialist Forum Nepal (FSFN).<\/p>\n \u201cThe government has marched closer to make the revision on the clause that creates a hurdle for naturalized citizens to a take over the key post of the country,\u201d say the sources, adding that a finalized decision in this regard is yet to be made.<\/p>\n “Sooner or later, the Federal Socialist Party will join the government over heading the Rashtriya Janata Party Nepal<\/a> (RJP-N) and this instance has increased the distance between the two parties who once took to the streets with the same demands and issues,” informed a statement.<\/p>\n In another major move, the Left party leaders Oli and Pushpa Kumar Dahal have also proposed collaboration with FSFN to hold two-third majority in the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n Out of the 275 seats, the Left Alliance<\/a> parties (CPN-UML and CPN-MC) won 121 and 53 seats respectively in the lower house in the recently-held elections, and a coalition with 16 FSFN members will get the Left Alliance two-third hold in the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n In another major update, newly-elected Prime Minister<\/a> of Nepal KP Sharma Oli has extended his cabinet<\/a> strength inducting four new ministers, taking the total number to seven.<\/p>\n The newly-appointed ministers took their oath of office at a recently-held ceremony at Presidential Palace Sheetal Niwas in Kathmandu.<\/p>\n The list of new ministers includes Ram Bahadur Thapa (CPN-MC) as the Minister for Home Affairs, Yubaraj Khatiwada as the Minister for Foreign Finance, Matrika Yadav as the Minister for Industry and Ishwar Pokharel (CPN-UML) as the Minister for Defence.<\/p>\n The new finance minister is a notable veteran economist of Nepal and also served in key positions as the Governor of the Nepal Rastra Bank and as the Vice-chairman of National Planning Commission (NPC).<\/p>\nLeft Okay for Constitutional Amendment<\/h4>\n
Oli Extends Cabinet Further<\/h4>\n