Nepal PM faces crisis over choice of presidential candidate

By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA
Associated Press

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A member of Nepal’s largest political party has filed his candidacy for next month’s presidential election in a decision backed by the prime minister that now threatens to bring down his fragile coalition government. Ram Chandra Poudel of the Nepali Congress party is supported by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, but he is not a coalition partner. The move angered the biggest party in the ruling coalition, Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), which retaliated by nominating its own member to contest the presidential election scheduled for March 9. Dahal is in danger of losing another coalition partner after the National Democratic Party also announced it would withdraw from the government. The decision could lead to a vote of confidence for Dahal.