President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Friday night dissolved the House of Representatives and announced mid-term elections in Nepal, The Kathmandu Post reported.

A midnight Cabinet meeting had made the recommendation to dissolve the House.

The move followed a notice from the Office of the President that it could appoint neither KP Sharma Oli, the incumbent prime minister, nor Sher Bahadur Deuba, Nepali Congress president, as claims made by both to form a new government were insufficient.

In a notice issued at around 2am, the Office of the President said Bhandari dissolved the House of Representatives and declared elections in two phases—on November 12 and November 19—on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers.