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24th July, 2008
KATHMANDU: The first president of newly-republican Nepal was sworn into office on Wednesday, but the country remained in political limbo, with the former Maoist rebels refusing to form a government under him.
Ram Baran Yadav took his oath in Nepal’s new constitutional assembly, which had voted on May 28 to sack unpopular king Gyanendra and abolish the Himalayan country’s 240-year-old monarchy.
“I, in the name of God take the oath of office that I will remain committed to the nation and its people to fulfil the duty with my utmost honesty and protect the sovereignty and freedom of the nation,” the new president said.
The president, who was supported by the centrist Nepali Congress party, was voted in on Monday, infuriating the country’s Maoists – who hold the largest bloc of seats in the assembly but not an outright majority.
The presidency is a largely ceremonial position but the Maoists are refusing to form a government, saying Yadav’s victory would give them little room to manoeuvre, and little chance of implementing key platform pledges like radical land reform.
Yadav, who arrived at the assembly building in a Jaguar once used by the former king for official duties, also administered the same oath to vice president Parmananda Jha.
Yadav, a 61-year-old former health minister and trained medical doctor, has said he plans to use his new position to try to unite Nepal and address grievances among the country’s ethnic communities.
In a statement congratulating Yadav earlier this week, UN chief Ban Ki-moon has urged all parties to “cooperate in forming a new government which will carry forward Nepal’s peace process.”
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