Ex-Rebels’ Chief Chosen as Nepal’s New PM
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KATMANDU, Nepal —The leader of Nepal’s former communist rebels has been chosen as the Himalayan nation’s next prime minister.
Constituent Assembly chairman Subash Nemwang announced today that Prachanda — who goes by a single name — was chosen by a majority of the assembly’s 594 members. He is chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). He defeated one rival — Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress party.
Mr. Deuba is a veteran politician who has been prime minister three times, while Prachanda led a 10-year Maoist insurgency in which more than 13,000 people died.