Nepal’s communist parties join forces to form a new coalition government

Nepal’s two largest communist parties joined forces to form a new coalition government on Monday that will also include smaller parties as partners.
Maoist party leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal will remain prime minister a year after he was elected to the office.
Dahal has ended his partnership with the Nepali Congress party, the largest group in parliament, and is now joining forces with the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), the second-biggest party led by Khadga Prasad Oli.
Dahal appointed three new ministers on Monday who were sworn in to office by President Ram Chandra Poudel in Kathmandu. The Cabinet is expected to be expanded through negotiations between the new partners in the coalition government.