Regardless of the permutations, there remains great uncertainty about who will be Nepal’s next prime minister, and over what happens if the country does not manage to select a premier before August 31.

If it does, constitutional expert Bipin Adhikari foresees the caretaker premier quickly pushing for a further extension of the assembly’s tenure by another three months. However, he says that allowing this to happen for such a major constitutional work “would clearly be a prescription for further weakening the legitimacy of constitutional assembly”.