Senior Maoist party leader Baburam Bhattarai was elected as Nepal’s prime minister

Senior Maoist party leader Baburam Bhattarai was elected as Nepal’s prime minister on Sunday in the latest attempt to form a stable government after extended political uncertainty.

The outgoing prime minister Jhalanath Khanal took the job only in February when the role had been vacant for seven months in a power struggle following the 10-year civil war that ended in 2006.

Bhattarai, the vice chairman of Maoist party, won the vote after securing the support of the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Marcha, a loose alliance of five regional parties from the country’s southern plains.

Maoist rebels fought the central government in a bloody conflict during which 16,000 died before turning to mainstream politics and winning elections in 2008.

However they do not have enough seats to govern alone and struggled to hold together the Maoist-led government that fell in 2009.

Source AFP