Nepal’s former Chief Justice Sushila Karki was sworn in as the interim prime minister of the country on Friday, three days after KP Sharma Oli resigned from the post amid protests against corruption and his government, reported The Kathmandu Post.
Karki, who has become the first woman to lead Nepal, was administered the oath of office by President Ramchandra Paudel.
The president also announced that the elections of the House of Representatives will be held in six months.
The country was plunged into a political crisis earlier this week after protests sparked by the Nepali government’s ban on 26 social media platforms. Although the Oli government lifted the social media ban on Monday night, the agitation evolved into a broader protest against alleged corruption and misgovernance.
The demonstrations have been described as a protest mainly by “Gen Z”, generally referring to persons born between the late 1990s and early 2000s.
On Wednesday, the leaders of the protest proposed Karki, who was Nepal’s first female chief justice from 2016 to 2017, to serve as the interim prime minister.
She said she had accepted the protesters’ request on the same day. “Protesters have entrusted me to lead the interim government and ensure free and fair elections,” she told CNN-News18. “My first duty would be to honour those who lost their lives during the protests.”
Karki’s oath-taking came as the toll from the protests increased to 51. This included at least 21 protesters and three security personnel, police Spokesperson Binod Ghimire told AFP.
Ghimire added that more than 12,500 prisoners who escaped from several jails in the country during the protests are still on the run.
The death toll includes several inmates who were killed during or after their escape in clashes with security forces.
