Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has been sworn in as the head of a three-party centre-left coalition in Nepal. Mr Koirala was re-appointed on Wednesday, two days after he resigned as the head of an eight-month old minority government of the centrist Nepali Congress.

With the Nepal Communist Party, United Marxist-Leninist (UML) and the Nepal Sadbhavana Party as partners in the new coalition, Mr Koirala is just short of a two-thirds majority. The two opposition parties agreed to join the coalition on condition that Mr Koirala will call elections by April next year.

King Birendra refused to hold immediate elections

This is Nepal's sixth government in four years. Prime Minister Koirala, has said that he will call fresh elections, saying fresh voting is the only answer to political instability.

Mr. Koirala is required to prove his majority in parliament within 30 days.

He is expected to recommend the fresh elections to King Birendra, after proving his majority early next month. King Birendra last week rejected a similar recommendation by Mr. Koirala, after the opposition parties called a special session of parliament to debate a no-confidence motion against him.

GP Koirala: Prime minister until April

The opposition parties said that Mr. Koirala's minority government could not conduct free and fair elections. They demanded that the elections be held under a multi-party government.

The motion became meaningless following Mr. Koirala's decision to step down as the minority government's prime minister and form a majority coalition.