ID :
13600
Wed, 07/23/2008 - 22:19
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/13600
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Nepal's 1st president takes oath of office
KATHMANDU, July 23 Kyodo - Nepal's first president, elected by a special assembly Monday, took the oath of office Wednesday, completing Nepal's transition from monarchy to republic.
Chief justice Kedar Prasad Giri administered the oath to Ram Baran Yadav at a function organized in the presidential residence in Kathmandu.
Yadav was offered the salute of head of state, traditionally offered to Nepal's monarchs. Nepal decided to have a president after ending its 240-year-old monarchy on May 28.
In his televised address after taking the oath, Yadav pledged to work to strengthen Nepal's territorial integrity, sovereignty, unity and cooperation among different communities and ethnicities.
Yadav, 61, a medical doctor by profession, was elected by an alliance of non-Maoist parties who command the simple majority constitutionally required for electing president, prime minister and vice president.
Yadav defeated a candidate nominated by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the largest party in the assembly elected in April.
Yadav, who served as health minister twice in the past, resigned from his party, Nepali Congress, on Tuesday as Nepal's president is required to be nonaligned with any political party.
Yadav is from Nepal's ethnic Madhesi community that resides in the country's southern belt.
In his address, Yadav also stressed the need for unity among political parties and the whole country to meet the aspirations of the Nepali people.
Ironically, Yadav's win in the presidential election prompted the former Maoist rebels to announce that they would stay out of a new government that will be formed after the president approves Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's June 26 resignation.
Nepal's army chief Gen. Rookmangud Katawal congratulated Yadav and said the army would not compromise the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.
Nepal's army was traditionally close to the monarchs. In 2005, it helped then King Gyanendra grab power through a bloodless coup.
But after weeks of peaceful protests forced the former king to relinquish executive authority in 2006, the army has pledged that it would serve elected governments.
Chief justice Kedar Prasad Giri administered the oath to Ram Baran Yadav at a function organized in the presidential residence in Kathmandu.
Yadav was offered the salute of head of state, traditionally offered to Nepal's monarchs. Nepal decided to have a president after ending its 240-year-old monarchy on May 28.
In his televised address after taking the oath, Yadav pledged to work to strengthen Nepal's territorial integrity, sovereignty, unity and cooperation among different communities and ethnicities.
Yadav, 61, a medical doctor by profession, was elected by an alliance of non-Maoist parties who command the simple majority constitutionally required for electing president, prime minister and vice president.
Yadav defeated a candidate nominated by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the largest party in the assembly elected in April.
Yadav, who served as health minister twice in the past, resigned from his party, Nepali Congress, on Tuesday as Nepal's president is required to be nonaligned with any political party.
Yadav is from Nepal's ethnic Madhesi community that resides in the country's southern belt.
In his address, Yadav also stressed the need for unity among political parties and the whole country to meet the aspirations of the Nepali people.
Ironically, Yadav's win in the presidential election prompted the former Maoist rebels to announce that they would stay out of a new government that will be formed after the president approves Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's June 26 resignation.
Nepal's army chief Gen. Rookmangud Katawal congratulated Yadav and said the army would not compromise the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.
Nepal's army was traditionally close to the monarchs. In 2005, it helped then King Gyanendra grab power through a bloodless coup.
But after weeks of peaceful protests forced the former king to relinquish executive authority in 2006, the army has pledged that it would serve elected governments.
