KATMANDU, March 24 -- The six-month-old government of Nepal's Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba Sunday narrowly won a Parliamentary vote of confidence by a margin of 106 to 90. Deuba's three-party center-right coalition survived the motion sponsored by opposition members of parliament led by the Communist Party of Nepal, which headed the previous short-lived government.
The Communists control 88 seats in Nepal's Parliament, but were only able to win the support of two independent MPs, leaving them short of the majority needed to carry the motion. Fears that Deuba could face the same fate as his predecessor, who also lost a vote of confidence, mounted last week when five ministers of the coalition government submitted their resignations. The ministers, who belonged to the rightist Rashtriya Prajatantra Party, threatened to bring their party's 19 seats to bear against Deuba in the no-confidence motion. However, the ministers withdrew their resignations hours before the crucial vote. 'This is a victory for democracy and stability,' said Surya Bahadur Thapa, president of the RPP. Meanwhile, Nepal's last prime minister, Communist leader Man Mohan Adhikari, said he accepted the vote 'gracefully.' Adhikari called the no-confidence vote earlier this month, after accusing the Deuba government of economic mismanagement and high-level corruption. In 1991, Nepal's first democratic elections were held after centuries of an absolute monarchy. br-sln/upi
