Nepal prime minister to take oath Monday

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- Nepal's newly elected prime minister will take his oath of office Monday, political leaders say.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal will take his oath in front of President Ram Baran Yadav, the Kantipur Report said Saturday.

The Nepalese Constituent Assembly voted overwhelmingly Friday to elect the Maoist Chairman as prime minister, ending a four-month political standoff.

The longtime Nepalese monarchy was jettisoned in May.

"Today is a day of pride and it will be written with golden letters in the history of the nation," the Maoists' deputy leader, Baburam Bhattarai, said after the vote, the BBC reported.

He had predicted earlier that Prachanda would be a leader "for a new era," comparable to Russia's Vladimir Lenin or Napoleon Bonaparte of France.