Sushil Koirala elected PP leader of NC, set to become PM

KATHMANDU: Sushil Koirala is set to become Nepal's next Prime Minister after being elected today as the Parliamentary Party leader of the Nepali Congress, which emerged as the single largest party in the Constituent Assembly elections.

The 74-year-old Nepali Congress President defeated his rival senior party leader and three-time Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba by 16 votes in the Parliamentary Party election.

Of the total 194 valid votes, Koirala secured 105 votes while Deuba got 89 votes.

Nepali Congress is the largest party in the 601-seat Constituent Assembly after it secured 196 seats in the November 19 polls.

Koirala, being the Parliamentary Party leader of the Nepali Congress, the largest party in the Constituent Assembly, is most likely to be the next Prime Minister of Nepal.

Nepali Congress, however, needs support from either CPN- UML or Unified CPN-Maoist and other fringe parties to reach the magical number of 301 seats in the Constituent Assembly to form the government.

Negotiations have begun on power sharing and distributing key posts among Nepali Congress, and UCPN-Maoist and CPN-UML leaders.

Parliamentary party leader will be the legitimate candidate to become the Prime Minister.