By Deepak Adhikari

KATHMANDU, Nepal

Nepalese lawmakers on Sunday elected a veteran ruling party politician as the country’s new prime minister, only weeks after the government promulgated a new constitution.

Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, the 63-year-old chairman of the Unified Marxist-Leninist Party, which holds the second largest number of seats in Nepal’s parliament, won the vote after securing the support of the Maoist Party and smaller parties.

He defeated outgoing Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, chairman of the Nepali Congress, who stood down last week after heading a coalition government for nearly two years.

In Sunday’s poll, Oli managed to clinch 338 votes from a total of 578 lawmakers present in the assembly, according to Parliament Speaker Subhas Chandra Nembang.

Addressing parliament in the run-up to the elections, Oli had struck a conciliatory tone, saying he would work to end an ongoing standoff with New Delhi and address the demands of Nepalese ethnic groups who demand greater rights under the new constitution.

“At this point, there appears to be a misunderstanding in our relations with our neighbor [India]. Supplies have been stopped,” Oli said in a televised address, referring to an ongoing blockade by India that has led to commodity shortages in Nepal.

“I would work to end that [the blockade] and ease the supply system. My goal is also to maintain social harmony,” he added.

He went on to say that he planned to effectively implement the new constitution, address the grievances of protesting groups, and oversee reconstruction of infrastructure damaged by a devastating April earthquake.

Protests, blockade

For the last two months, Nepal has been shaken by protests in the Southern Plains region by groups opposed to the new constitution.

Police have killed more than 40 protesters, who in turn have hindered vehicular traffic at Nepal’s border crossings with India and on the country's highways. 

India has supported the protests and imposed an informal blockade on its landlocked northern neighbor, which has severely impacted the flow of goods into Nepal, including essential supplies such as petrol, cooking gas and medicine. 

New Delhi, for its part, officially denies any involvement in the blockade, saying it is Nepal's unstable security situation that is impeding cross-border traffic. 

Oli, a sharp-tongued politico, began his political career as a radical communist inspired by India’s Maoist movement in the 1970s.

In a checkered political career spanning over 40 years, he has served as deputy prime minister, home minister and foreign minister. During the tumultuous years of 1990s, he was considered a political ally of India.

More recently, however, Oli -- who has drawn ire from some quarters for criticizing the protests and for his blunt remarks -- has attempted to distance himself from New Delhi.