CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal looks set to become the 39th prime minister on Wednesday, with more than 360 lawmakers likely to vote for him. On Tuesday, Dahal was the sole claimant to the post of the prime minister when he filed his candidacy at the Parliament Secretariat.

The CPN-UML has decided not to field any candidate against Dahal.

Dahal’s candidacy was proposed by Sher Bahadur Deuba, president of the Nepali Congress, which will be the key coalition partner in his government, and seconded by Maoist leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara and 15 other leaders. As many as 16 parties have supported Dahal’s candidacy, according to Sudarshan Kuinkel, assistant spokesperson for the Parliament Secretariat.

As of Tuesday evening’s calculation, there were 368 lawmakers in favour of Dahal. The NC has 207 lawmakers while Dahal’s party has 80 and others pledging at least 81 votes.

The UML has decided to vote against Dahal. The Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal, which has 25 seats in Parliament, is undecided.