Senior Maoist elected Nepal's PM
Nepal's parliament has elected a new prime minister, the Maoist party's number two, Baburam Bhattarai.Mr Bhattarai is the country's fourth prime minister in as many years.The former prime minister Jhala Nath Khanal resigned after just six months in the job, saying he was frustrated by lack of progress in the country's peace process, particularly trying to integrate more than 19,000 former Maoist fighters into the army.Observers say Mr Bhattarai has his work cut out for him, in trying to gain support from opposition parties and building public faith in the political process.Presenter: Alma MistrySpeaker: Baburam Bhattarai, Nepali Prime Minister; Akhilesh Upadhyay, editor of the Kathmandu Post; Panni Kaji Amati, professor of Political Science, Tribhuvan UniversityMr Bhattarai's predecessor, Jhala Nath Khanal resigned two weeks ago, saying he had made little progress on either of those fronts.
MISTRY: Nepal's new Prime Minister is 57-year-old Baburam Bhattarai. He's the Vice Chairman of the Maoist United Communist Party of Nepal, a group which gave up a ten year armed struggle in 2006 and won a parliamentary majority in elections that were held two years later. Since that time Nepal has seen a revolving door of Prime Minister's as the country's political parties tussle over how to draft a new Constitution and what to do with the thousands of Maoist fighters who waged a ten year insurgency against the monarchy.Akhilesh Upadhyay is the Editor of the Kathmandu Post. He says throughout the political turmoil of the past the new Prime Minister has upheld a reputation for integrity.UPADHYAY: Since 2005 Bhattarai has remained a consistent ideaologue for his party and one of the leaders with with outstanding credentials and increasingly unlike some of his senior comrades inclined to peace and constitution that is the broad Nepali lingo for democratic ideals.MISTRY: Fears about Mr Bhattarai's strong Maoist ideology surfaced when he was made Finance Minister after the 2008 elections. But Akhilesh Upadhyay says Mr Bhattarai proved he was able to reach out and build unlikely partnerships.UPADHYAY: There was a lot of trepidation that this Maoist ideologue in a strong leftist state controlled policies. But that didn't quite happen. In fact he was a very effective finance minister and he was able to reach out to the public and to the private sector that was pretty uneasy with the communist government.MISTRY: After being sworn in Mr Bhattarai vowed to get to work immediately to complete the peace process and to reach political agreement on a new constitution.BHATTARAI: Completing the peace process and preparing the new constitution are my immediate priorities. Number three is providing relief to the people.MISTRY: Nepal's peace process largely entails the question of how to rehabilitate or re-integrate some 19 thousand Maoist fighters who are represented by Mr Bhattarai's party. The rebels fought a decade-long campaign against the former monarchy before joining the United Nations-supervised peace process in 2006. Now they're confined to various barracks across the country, with their weapons locked up in shipping containers. Mr Bhattarai wants to integrate the fighters into the Nepalese Army. But that idea has met resistance from opposition political parties and sections of the army itself. Professor Panni Kaji Amati, from Tribhuvan University explains.AMATI: Army does not like integration of Maoist forces in it. Although they can't spell it out on the surface they are against the integration of Maoist forces in their Army.MISTRY: That's because of historically they were fighting against each other?AMATI: Yes.MISTRY: Baburam Bhattarai was elected Prime Minister with the support of Nepals smaller parties . Professor Amati says he will find it hard to move forward with his agenda without first reaching out to Nepals other large political parties- the rival Communist group known as the Communist Party of Nepal and the the centrist Nepali Congress Party . But Professor Amati is wary of the political compromises that will have to be made.AMATI: In order to get support from the second and third largest parties he has to give something in return and to how many political parties out there they have all got own agendas. Battarai is amidst conflicting rival agendas presented by rival political parties. That's why it's a tough job for him.MISTRY: The editor of the Kathmandu Post, Akhilesh Upadhyay says Mr Battarai will have to convince his rivals that there is enough agreement between the groups, to move forward.UPADHYAY: They are deeply sceptical about what he wants to do next so he definitely wants to reach out to these parties and explain that there is a way, despite differences there is a way for us to work together.MISTRY: Political science professor Panni Kaji Amati says while the task ahead is great, the Nepalese public is hopeful that Mr Battarai will be able to unite the country's fractured political groups and bring about real change.AMATI: Everybody hopes he can deliver the goods. If he can do that then he will be one of the popular prime ministers because the past prime ministers were a hopeless lot they couldn't do anything but Battarai may be different from them.
