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Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal held a meeting with CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal and Janata Samajwadi Party Chairman Upendra Yadav on Sunday. During the meeting held at the Parliamentary Party office of CPN (Maoist Center) in Singhadurbar this morning, the leaders discussed vote of confidence and other contemporary political issues, according to the Prime Minister's Secretariat. On the occasion, PM Dahal, also the Chairperson of the Maoist Centre, urged both Nepal and Yadav to give him the vote of confidence to continue his prime ministerial position. Dahal, who was elected the PM with the support of 169 lawmakers on 25 December, is scheduled to take the vote of confidence on Tuesday. There is a provision in the Constitution of Nepal that the PM should take the vote of confidence within 30 days of being appointed to the post.  

Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chairman Rajendra Lingden and Janamat Party Chairman CK Raut held a meeting with CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli in Balkot on Sunday. During the meeting held this morning, they discussed power sharing, contemporary political issues and the vote of confidence to be taken by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Oli told Lingden and Raut that Prime Minister Dahal should be given the vote of confidence. Saying that they made Dahal the prime minister by breaking the ruling coalition, Oli urged them to give the vote of confidence to Dahal without thinking of another alternative, a source at Balkot said. Prime Minister Dahal is confident that Oli will give him the vote of confidence. The trio also discussed the Common Minimum Program of the government. The prime minister needs 138 seats for a majority in the 275-member federal Parliament. Prime Minister Dahal, who is also the Chairman of the CPN (Maoist Center) has the support of more than 169 lawmakers.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya has said the election to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly have contributed to institutionalize democracy. Inaugurating the Bagmati Province level election review program at Dolakha today, he said the review program will provide guidance as to making the elections more systematic in the coming days. The Chief Election Commissioner stressed that election is won on the basis of principles, integrity and ideology. "Suggestions were collected through consultations at the rural municipality level for making the voter list unblemished. We believe that the voter roll was flawless," he said, adding that if there are any errors in the voter list, you yourself are responsible for that. “I do not believe in the conjectures that the names of dead people were included in the voter list and votes were cast in their names in Dolakha. If that is the case, please explain how it happened and express the reality here”, CEC Thapaliya said on the occasion. Election Commission Under Secretary Kamal Gyawali had made a presentation on the election-related data, good practices, problems and challenges during the November 20 election. The Chief Election Officer, the Chief District Officer, chiefs of the district-based security bodies and the stakeholders were present in the review program. Group discussions will be held on voter lists, the voting process, human resources, election materials management, monitoring, election laws, monitoring of social sites, voter education, election observation, information technology use, gender inclusion, among other topics.

Newly appointed Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Chen Song arrived in Nepal on Sunday. Acting Ambassador to Nepal Wang Xin among others officials of the Chinese Embassy welcomed him at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China appointed Chen Song as the new ambassador to Nepal after Hou Yanqi returned to China after completing her four-year tenure in October. He is known as the expert on Asian affairs. Chen Song is the deputy director general at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is considered to be an expert on Nepal affairs. That is why Beijing appointed Chen Song as the Chinese Ambassador to Nepal among the five deputy director generals who are experts on Nepal affairs. Ambassador Chen Song came to Nepal around two weeks later than the scheduled date due to his health problems. He was scheduled to come to Nepal on December 27. According to an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he will stay in quarantine for some days.