Nepalese Opposition’s Nominee Is New Premier

KATMANDU, Nepal —  King Gyanendra named an ailing octogenarian veteran politician as Nepal’s prime minister Thursday.

Girija Prasad Koirala was the choice for prime minister of the alliance of political parties behind weeks of bloody protests that forced the king to restore democracy, but his illness could keep him from today’s first session of the reinstated parliament.

Krishna Sitaula, spokesman of Koirala’s Nepali Congress party, offered few details of Koirala’s ailment, saying only that it was a lung problem. Koirala -- who is taking his fifth turn as prime minister -- would be examined by doctors before deciding whether to attend parliament, he said.

Koirala’s illness kept him away from a victory rally in Katmandu, the capital, marring a day that began with Maoist rebels announcing a three-month cease-fire.

The rebel campaign has left about 13,000 dead over a decade, and crushing the insurgents was one of the top reasons Gyanendra gave when he seized power in February 2005, dismissing an interim government.