NEPAL'S KING GYANENDRA THURSDAY EVENING APPOINTED AILING OCTOGENARIAN GIRIJA PRASAD KOIRALA AS THE COUNTRY'S NEW PRIME MINISTER, A NEPALESE ROYAL PALACE ANNOUNCEMENT SAID, DPA REPORTED. THIS IS KOIRALA'S FOURTH STINT AS THE COUNTRY'S CHIEF EXECUTIVE AND ONE MANY THINK WILL BE HIS MOST DIFFICULT. KOIRALA'S APPOINTMENT FOLLOWS HIS UNANIMOUS ELECTION EARLIER IN THE DAY AS THE LEADER OF THE NEPALI CONGRESS PARLIAMENTARY PARTY. KOIRALA IS ALSO THE PRESIDENT OF THE NEPALI CONGRESS PARTY. KOIRALA, 82, IS THE ONLY LEADER IN THE SEVEN-PARTY ALLIANCE (SPA) WHO HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH KING GYANENDRA AFTER THE LATTER DISMISSED AN ELECTED GOVERNMENT LED BY SHER BAHADUR DEUBA IN OCTOBER 2002. ALL OTHER MAJOR PARTIES IN THE SPA JOINED THE GOVERNMENT UNDER KING GYANENDRA AFTER OCTOBER 2002. THE LAST COALITION GOVERNMENT LED BY PRIME MINISTER SHER BAHADUR DEUBA AND DISMISSED BY THE KING IN FEBRUARY 2005 COMPRISED THE NEPALI CONGRESS DEMOCRATIC, THE COMMUNIST UNITED MARXIST-LENINISTS, AND THE SADBHABANA PARTY, ALL PART OF THE SPA THAT LED THE RECENT PRO- DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT. KOIRALA WAS CHOSEN BY THE SPA IN ITS MEETING ON TUESDAY TO LEAD THE NEW GOVERNMENT. THE MEETING TOOK PLACE SOON AFTER THE KING IN A PROCLAMATION ON MONDAY NIGHT NNOUNCED THAT HE WAS RELINQUISHING ALL POWERS TO THE PEOPLE. KOIRALA WILL LEAD THE NEW GOVERNMENT, BUT SOURCES IN HIS PARTY SAID THAT HE WAS "HAVING HEALTH PROBLEMS" AND THAT THE COMPOSITION OF THE CABINET COULD TAKE PLACE ONLY FRIDAY OR SATURDAY. KOIRALA WHO WAS TO HAVE ADDRESSED A MASS MEETING IN THE NEPALESE CAPITAL THURSDAY COULD NOT ATTEND THE MEETING DUE TO "RESPIRATORY" PROBLEMS. KOIRALA WAS FIRST ELECTED PRIME MINISTER IN 1991, TAKING OFFICE AFTER MULTI-PARTY DEMOCRACY WAS RESTORED IN NEPAL IN 1990. HE WAS PRIME MINISTER AGAIN FROM APRIL 1998 TO MAY 1999 AND FROM MARCH 2000 TO JULY 2001. KOIRALA IS DUE TO BE SWORN IN AS PRIME MINISTER FRIDAY MORNING BUT TNEPALI CONGRESS SPOKESMAN KRISHNA SITAULA SAID THE CEREMONY COULD BE POSTPONED IF KOIRALA'S HEALTH DID NOT IMPROVE. HIS ELDER BROTHER, B P KOIRALA, CONSIDERED ONE OF NEPAL'S GREATEST POLITICIANS, WAS THE COUNTRY'S FIRST ELECTED PRIME MINISTER FROM 1959 TO 1960 UNTIL THEN KING MAHENDRA, FATHER OF THE PRESENT KING, DISMISSED HIM AND IMPOSED ABSOLUTE RULE LASTING NEARLY 30 YEARS. -
