The newly formed four-party ruling coalition has agreed to elect a Maoist candidate to the post of National Assembly chair that has remained vacant since Sunday. The coalition partners have also decided to help a CPN-UML candidate for the post of vice-chair of the upper house.

A meeting of the alliance’s top leaders held at the prime minister’s residence at Baluwatar on Monday reached that understanding, among others, as they signed an eight-point agreement.

As per the deal, the CPN (Maoist Centre) will nominate a candidate for the chair of the National Assembly, while the CPN-UML will nominate a candidate for the vice-chair.

The six-year term of Ganesh Prasad Timilsina as the chairman of the National Assembly ended on Sunday.

Currently, the post of vice-chair of the upper house is not vacant. Urmila Aryal, elected from the Maoist Centre, is the vice-chair of the National Assembly. The UML will contest for the vice-chair after Aryal resigns.

The Assembly chair and vice-chair should be from different parties per the constitutional provision.

The parties also reached agreements related to government formation, concluding the years-long peace process, and the implementation of federalism.

The agreement undersigned by Maoist Centre chair and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, UML chair KP Sharma Oli, Rastriya Swatantra Party chair Rabi Lamichhane and Janata Samajwadi Party chief Upendra Yadav states that the issue of transitional justice will be settled through consensus.

Parties said they have agreed to share ministerial positions among ruling partners based on mutual understanding.

They also agreed to formulate laws needed for full-fledged implementation of the three-tier federal system.