
ON MONDAY, December 26, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Nepal by President Bidya Devi Bhandari at the President’s Office in Kathmandu. The leader of the Communist Party of Nepal — Maoist Centre (CPN-MC), Dahal will return to office for his third stint as prime minister after 2008 and 2016.
Dahal is better known under his nom-de-guerre Prachanda, under which he was a leading commander in the 1996-2006 Nepalese civil war. Won decisively by his communist insurgents, the war ended with the overthrow of Nepal’s absolute monarchy and a transition from Maoist guerilla warfare to dominance in the nation’s newly established liberal democracy for the rebels.
Despite his popularity and fame, his two previous terms as prime minister were marked by instability, each lasting barely nine months, and there has been a fierce rivalry between different communist parties, as well as unity initiatives.



