UML-MAOIST MERGER Two of the three largest political parties, CPN-UML and CPN-MC merged to form Nepal Communist Party (NCP) on May 17 and were approved by the Elec- tion Commission on June 6, 2018. bunch of leaders, in a guerilla style, brought the seven-point unification (document) and announced the decision, not a proposal, for unification with UML. That decision was brought into an informal meeting where a task force was meeting to distribute electoral tickets...I have never read about an example of humiliation of such a huge proportion in any com- munist Ajaya Bhadra Khanal
[email protected] Merger of CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist): Implications for Nepal's Democracy [1] Ajaya Bhadra Khanal While the rest of the country had quietened down for the Dashain holidays in October 2017, the two major leftist forces made a surprise announcement they were going to merge after the series of local and parliamentary elections for the three levels of the government.[2] The move created a huge political ripple in Nepal and abroad. The announcement came after three days of intensive discussions between K P Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Initially, the two party leaders had been talking about such a possibility, and now the proposal has reached a stage of alliance and party Maoist leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha says.[3] In order to complete the unification process, the parties announced a seven-point plan[4]. After seven months of intense negotiations, the two largest communist parties formally merged on May 17, 2018. Until the 2017 elections at the local, provincial, and federal levels, the Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxists Leninists and Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center) had largely played second fiddle to the Nepali Congress.[5] But with the electoral alliance, the UML and the Maoists collectively received a resounding electoral victory at all levels of the government.