KATHMANDU: Nepal's newly elected president took his oath of office on Monday, days after he was backed by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who is scrambling to remain in power. Seventy-eight-year-old Ram Chandra Poudel is with the opposition Nepali Congress party, but Dahal supported him for the largely ceremonial post over a candidate from his key coalition partner Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), or CPN (UML), during last week's parliamentary vote.

This decision last month cost him the support of CPN (UML), and the former Maoist rebel-turned-prime minister is expected to face a vote of confidence.