Kathmandu, Nepal (BBN)-Parliament in Nepal has elected a new prime minister, Khadga Prasad Oli, who faces a series of daunting challenges.
Oli received 338 votes of the 597-member chamber, the Speaker announced, reports BBC.
Oli told cheering supporters in parliament that he saw his appointment as “an honour and a challenge”.
The new leader will have to handle continuing protests over a new constitution, the rebuilding of the country after April’s devastating earthquake and a fuel shortage.
Oli, who was backed by a coalition of royalists, Maoists and centrists, is the first prime minister to be elected under the new constitution, defeating the previous prime minister, Sushil Koirala.
Some analysts say the conservative Oli will be less able than Koirala to reach out to the disaffected Madhesi community of southern Nepal who oppose the new constitution.
Madhesis have staged weeks of demonstrations which have hampered the flow of fuel and other goods from India.
The fuel shortages have become so acute that traffic has been kept off the roads.
Some in Nepal blame Delhi for blockading fuel supplies on the India-Nepal border because it supports Madhesi demands for changes to the constitution.
But India argues that insecurity caused by protests has meant that trucks carrying fuel and other essential goods cannot enter Nepal.
The new constitution was promulgated two weeks ago, but sparked protests in the plains, resulting in more than 40 deaths.
Thousands of people lost their lives and thousands more were injured in a 7.8-magnitude earthquake and aftershocks that hit Nepal earlier this year.
BBN/SK/AD