Deuba makes first cabinet picks to guide elections

Nepal’s new Prime Minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba, named his first cabinet appointments yesterday and put a former Maoist guerrilla in charge of holding the final round of local elections, the first such elections in two decades.The 70-year-old Deuba replaced Pushpa Kamal Dahal, a former rebel commander, as prime minister after a parliamentary vote on Tuesday.He has pledged to complete the remaining phase of village and municipal assembly elections set for June 28, leading to provincial and national elections before the end of the year.The first phase of local polls was held on May 14.“These are early appointments and the prime minister will expand the cabinet in consultation with coalition partners,” said Deuba’s aide and nephew, Bhanu Deuba.The main appointment was Home Minister Janardan Sharma, a former guerrilla fighter, who will be in charge of overseeing all three elections the government hopes will complete a difficult transition since the monarchy was abolished in 2008.The president’s office said three members of the ethnic Madhesi minority were among the seven appointments.Gopal Man Shrestha, from the Nepali Congress, was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education. Gyanendra Bahadur Karki and Farmullah Mansoor, also from NC, were appointed Minister for Finance and Minister for Labour and Employment, respectively.Krishna Bahadur Mahara of CPN (Maoist Centre) was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs.Likewise, Nepal Loktantrik Forum Chairman Bijay Kumar Gachhadar was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Federal Affairs and Local Development.Outgoing prime minister Dahal’s CPN (Maoist Centre), the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-N), Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal, Nepal Loktantrik Forum and CPN (Samyukta), besides other fringe parties, voted for Deuba.Those appointments are seen as a bid to appease the Madhesis, who live on the southern plains bordering India and say a new constitution that creates new provinces will unfairly consolidate the power of the country’s hill elite over them.Among others appointed to the cabinet was Krishna Bahadur Mahara, also a Maoist, who will be a deputy prime minister in charge of the foreign ministry, the president’s office said in a statement.Deuba returned to power for the fourth time on Tuesday – 12 years after he was removed by then King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev – with 388 votes in his favour out of 593 voters in Parliament.As many as 558 lawmakers cast votes during the prime ministerial election, with Deuba being the lone candidate.