CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) have unified to form Communist Party of Nepal (CPN).
A joint meeting of the two parties at the prime minister’s official residence in Blauwatar Thursday has formally announced unification. Central members of the unified party were also sworn in collectively on the occasion.
The two parties have agreed for a bi-chairman system with Oli and Dahal remaining co-chairmen until the general convention. Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhalanath Khanal will be the senior leaders.
The ranking of the top nine leaders in the new party has also been decided with Bam Dev Gautam ranked fifth behind the co-chairmen and senior leaders. Gautam will be followed by Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Ishwor Pokharel, Ram Bahadur Thapa and Bishnu Paudel respectively in descending order.
Bishnu Paudel will be the general secretary whereas Narayan Kaji Shrestha will be the spokesperson.
Marxism-Leninism will be the guiding principle of the unified party. Sun will be the election symbol of the party.
People's Multiparty Democracy and the People’s Democracy (Janabad) of the 21
st century will be taken for deliberation until the general convention of unification.
The new party will have 441 central members including 241 from UML and 200 from Maoist Center. Similarly, the standing committee will have 45 members including 26 from UML and 19 from Maoist Center. The politburo will have 145 members.
The party will have committees at 10 levels including standing committee, politburo, central committee, national representative council, provincial committee, district committee, electoral constituency committee, metropolitan/sub metropolitan/municipal/rural municipal committee, ward committee and preliminary committee.
The two parties have already dissolved organizational structures at all levels including their sister organizations.
The unified party will have almost two-third majority in both the houses of the federal parliament.
The party will have 42 members in the 59-strong National Assembly including the three nominated by the president on recommendation of the government.
The party, similarly, will have 174 members (63.5%) in the 275-strong House of Representatives (HoR). Both speaker and deputy speaker of HoR, and chairman and vice chairman of the National Assembly are from the party. UML and Maoist Center, together, had received almost 47 percent of popular votes in the HoR election held at the end of 2017.
The party will have government in all the provinces except Province 2. Speakers and deputy speakers in those six provinces are also from the party.
The party will have 351 lawmakers in 550-strong provincial assemblies in the seven provinces.
The unified party will also have 19,540 out of 35,041 local representatives in 753 local bodies despite UML and Maoist Center contesting the local election as two different parties.
The two parties had announced an electoral alliance on October 3 with a promise to unify the parties after the election.
They had then signed a seven-point agreement on
February 19 and announced they will soon unify but there was no solid progress in unification since.
The unification was earlier scheduled for April 22 to mark the centenary of formation of the first communist party in Nepal, but that was postponed in the eleventh hour.
The parties had then said the date will be announced on May 5 on the occasion of 200th birth anniversary of Karl Marx but that also did not happen.
They have finally completed unification on the death anniversary of UML leaders Madan Bhandari and Jeev Raj Aashrit.
