President Bidya Devi Bhandari has appointed CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal the prime minister as per Article 76 (2) of the Constitution of Nepal.  The article states: In cases where no party has a clear majority in the House of Representatives pursuant to clause (1), the President shall appoint as the Prime Minister a member of the House of Representatives who is able to command a majority with the support of two or more parties representing the House of Representatives. 

With the latest appointment, Dahal has become prime minister for the third time backed by a strength of 169 lawmakers from the UML, Rastriya Swatantra Party and Janamat Party. President Bhandari will administer to him the oath of office and secrecy at 4 pm on Monday.     

Dahal became prime minister in 2008 after his party emerged as the largest party. However, he was forced to step down after then President Ram Baran Yadav overturned his decision of sacking Army Chief Rukmangud Katawal.

Second time, he became the prime minister of the government in 2016, backed by Nepali Congress. After the merger of UML and his party in 2018 and formation of a powerful government in 2018, Dahal had expected that Oli would hand over the government leadership after 2.5 years.

Over the past few years, Dahal has been consistently saying that as he hid some mistakes in his first and second tenures, he wants to lead the government to implement his roadmap of peace and development. This time, he had expected that Nepali Congress would support him to form a government but that did not happen. Along with UML, Rastriya Swatantra Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Nagarik Unmukti Party and Janamat Party and Janata Samajbadi Party have supported Dahal.