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Kathmandu, March 14: (Kathmandu Post): The new President Ram Chandra Paudel on Monday took the oath of office and secrecy at a special ceremony at the Sheetal Niwas, the President’s Office.
Acting Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki administered the oath to Paudel in the presence of Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and National Assembly Chairman Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, key politicians and other high-ranking officials.
A veteran Nepali Congress leader, Paudel was elected as the third President of the country on March 9, beating rival candidate Subas Chandra Nembang of the CPN-UML.
The tenure of the outgoing President Bidya Devi Bhandari ended Monday.
Paudel had spent more than a decade in jail. In his political career, Paudel became a lawmaker six times, minister five times, and Speaker one time. His political journey, nonetheless, is a tale of losses as well.
In March 2016, Sher Bahadur Deuba defeated the then acting president Paudel in the election for the party’s top post, with a wide margin.
Paudel also lost the infamous race for prime ministership in 2010. The race began in July 2010 with three candidates: Paudel from the Congress, Pushpa Kamal Dahal from the UCPN-Maoist and Jhala Nath Khanal from the UML. He could not get a majority even after 16 rounds of voting. In the 17th round, UML’s Jhala Nath Khanal was elected the prime minister.
A politician who was unlucky in the election of prime minister and party president has now reached the state’s top post. People have pinned high hopes on him.
Political analyst Lok Raj Baral said Paudel’s plus point is that he is an experienced leader who had committed his political career to democracy and has never been mired in corruption. “The main question is whether he will be (mis) used by his former party Congress like Bhandari was by the UML,” said Baral.
He added: “As Paudel has closely followed Bhandari’s controversies, he can learn from them.”
Bhandari’s tenure was full of controversies as she was accused of rubber-stamping KP Oli’s decisions, and acting as a party leader rather than as the head of state.
UML leader Amrit Bohara said that as Paudel is a seasoned politician who has for long been involved in Nepali politics and also took part in various movements against autocratic regimes, he can be the right custodian of the constitution. “He can do it, I think, if he internalises the institution’s sanctity,” Bohara said.
Paudel was backed by 10 parties in the presidential election. The earlier UML-Maoist ruling alliance was broken after the Maoist Centre, in a dramatic turn of events, decided to support the Nepali Congress in the presidential election. Other parties joined the team, to form a new ‘eight-party’ alliance, which turned Nepal’s power equations on their head.
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https://kathmandupost.com/politics/2023/03/14/onus-on-Paudel-to-save-the-sanctity-of-presidency
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