Maoists Vice-Chairman Baburam Bhattarai elected Nepal's 35th Prime Minister

Maoists Vice-Chairman Baburam Bhattarai was on 28 August 2011 elected Nepal's 35th prime minister marking the country’s attempt to form a stable government after extended political uncertainty. The vice chairman of Maoist party, Bhattarai won the vote after securing the support of the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Marcha, a loose alliance of five regional parties from the country's southern plains.

Bhattarai completed his PhD degree from Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi)in 1986. His Ph.D. thesis was later published as a book- The Nature of Underdevelopment and Regional Structure of Nepal- A Marxist Analysis.
He is a senior Standing Committee Member and vice chairperson of Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), which began fighting a revolutionary People's War in Nepal in 1996 that ultimately led to the change of the political system in Nepal from a monarchy into a republic. He was elected to the Constituent Assembly from Gorkha in 2008 and became Finance Minister in the Cabinet formed after the election.

Maoist rebels fought the central government in a bloody conflict during which 16,000 died before turning to mainstream politics and winning elections in 2008. The Maoist rebels, who ended their decade-long insurgency in 2006, emerged as the single largest party during the Constituent Assembly election in 2008.

The outgoing prime minister Jhalanath Khanal was sworn in as Prime Minister only in February 2011 when the role had been vacant for seven months in a power struggle following the ten-year civil war that ended in 2006. Khanal belonging to the Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) party resigned as premier,in early August 2011 blaming the lack of progress made over the country's peace process and the constitution.