Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal took the oath of office and subsequently formed an eight-member Cabinet on Monday. Dahal has appointed three deputy prime ministers and four other ministers. However, the coalition partners are yet to reach an agreement on sharing of the other portfolios.

After taking the oath, the first cabinet meeting of the Dahal government decided to streamline the passport and license receiving system and instructed the officials concerned to ease those services where people are facing difficulties. Service seekers have to stay in long queues for days and weeks to obtain the passport and driving license and its renewal.

The prime minister signed a decision to strengthen the prime minister's office to improve governance, service delivery and speed up development works, Ramesh Malla, personal assistant to Prime Minister Dahal said.

Until a new spokesperson is in place, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane is tasked to work as spokesperson of the government.

With the formation of the new government, a sense of hope and trust has been restored, Dahal said after the cabinet meeting.

“Certainly there are challenges and complications ahead of us. But this Cabinet represents the election results. And it has raised hope. We have just finished the first meeting,” said Dahal.

“The first thing is to improve the economy, to proceed seriously towards good governance, and we have to focus on solving the problems faced by the people while accessing public services.”

The prime minister can now appoint 17 more ministers as the Constitution has limited the size of the Cabinet to 25 members.

Subash Nembang, the vice chair of CPN-UML, a major partner in the Dahal-led government, said they are yet to reach an agreement on filling the vacant ministerial positions. “We decided to form a small Cabinet today, and a detailed homework for giving the Cabinet a full shape is still underway.”

Dahal has appointed Bishnu Paudel, the vice-chair of the UML as a deputy prime minister and finance minister; senior vice-chair of the Maoist Centre Narayan Kaji Shrestha as another deputy prime minister and physical infrastructure and transport minister; and Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) chief, Rabi Lamichhane as yet another deputy prime minister, who will also head the powerful home ministry.

Paudel and Lamichaane are the directly-elected lawmakers from the November 20 polls, whereas Shrestha is a member of the National Assembly.

Janamat Party, one of the members of the seven-party alliance, has sent Abdul Khan as a minister from the party in the Dahal-led government. Khan, and CPN-UML’s Damodhar Bhandari, Jwala Singh Sah and Rajendra Rai are ministers without portfolios, for now.

A source privy to the power-sharing negotiations said the UML and the Maoist Centre are demanding eight and six seats, respectively, in the Cabinet. “Barshaman Pun, Rekha Sharma, Mahendra Raya Yadav are some of the potential candidates for ministers from the Maoist Centre,” the source said.

Sharma is the only woman leader to be directly-elected from the Maoist party in the November elections.

RSP spokesperson Mukul Dhakal also said that the ruling parties are yet to decide which parties will get which ministries and how many.

The Janamat Party has demanded the post of chief minister in the Madhesh Province. If the party gets the chief ministerial position in the Madhesh province, they will not demand another ministerial position in the federal government, according to BP Shah, central committee member of the party.

“Our party will at least demand two more ministries in the federal government, if we aren’t allowed the chief ministership,” Shah told the Post. “We want the ministry of agriculture, the ministry of industry and one more.”

In such a situation, one of the candidates for minister from the party will be party secretary and lawmaker Anita Shah.

Janata Samjbadi Party (JSP), which has 12 lawmakers in the lower House, however, has not yet sent its representatives to the cabinet. The party chair Upendra Yadav said the party is still undecided on whether they will join the government. “Even though our support is there for the Dahal government, we are yet to decide whether to join the government or not. Our party meeting will soon decide on the matter,” Yadav told the Post.

JSP leader Rakam Chemjong told the Post that they will demand three ministries, if their party joins the government.

In the seven-party alliance, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) having 14 seats in the House, has decided not to join the Cabinet immediately, while lending its support to the government.

“We have decided to support the government from the outside,” Rajendra Lingden, chairman of the party, said on Monday.

Similarly, another fringe party, Nagarik Unmukti, which has three seats in parliament and lent its support to Dahal on Sunday, is yet to decide on whether to join the government.

The party’s chief Ranjita Shrestha said, “We have scheduled our party’s meeting on Tuesday to decide the matter.”

The party has been demanding the release of Resham Chaudhary who is serving a life term in connection with the Tikapur carnage of August 2015.

Dahal, who had shown the support of a majority of lawmakers to President Bhandari on Sunday, was appointed as the prime minister of Nepal for his third stint on Monday. Premiership for Dahal for a third time was possible with the support of a seven-party alliance formed after the Nepali Congress-led four-party alliance got dismantled on Sunday afternoon.

President Bhandari on December 18 had called members of the House of Representatives under the Article 76 (2) who are able to command a majority in parliament with the support of two or more parties to stake claim for government formation, since no party commands an absolute majority in parliament. The President had given the parties a week to show the majority to claim the government leadership.

With the support of other parties, including the second-largest party in the legislature, Dahal, the leader of the third-largest party in the legislature, was appointed prime minister after the largest party in parliament, the Nepali Congress, and the alliance led by it, were unable to prove their majority within the deadline given by the President.