KP Sharma Oli has been elected as the UML President for the third time. Oli was re-elected as the President by defeating his rival Ishwor Pokharel at the 11th General Convention held in Kathmandu. He was previously elected as the President at the 9th General Convention in 2071 and the 10th General Convention in 2078.

At a time when pressure is mounting on the old parties to hand over leadership after the Gen-G movement, the UML general convention has approved Oli's leadership for a third term. Although the Ishwor Pokharel faction, which entered the competition over the issue of internal democracy, methods, and procedures in the party, could not achieve a major victory in the office bearers and the central committee, it has revived the democratic practice of party life.

The Oli panel is seen dominating the UML office bearers. Only two office bearers from the Pokharel faction have won. Gokarna Bista was elected as the vice-chairman and Yogesh Bhattarai as the deputy general secretary. Oli is in a 'comfortable' position as the establishment party is about 70 percent in the central committee. Only a dozen central members have been elected as open central members from the Pokharel panel in the central committee (301).

Oli won the presidency with 1,663 votes. His competitor Ishwor Pokharel got 564 votes. Shankar Pokharel has been re-elected as the general secretary. Chairman Oli had to work hard to win Pokharel as the general secretary amid pressure from leaders of his own party. Chairman Oli had given internal instructions to the representatives to win Pokharel. Shankar Pokharel defeated his rival Surendra Pandey by 229 votes. Pokharel got (1228) and Pandey (999) votes. Pandey was also defeated in the central membership. 

Pandey said that this competition has widened the path to practice democracy within the party. ‘There had been obstacles in competition within the UML. We have been able to make the path of competition possible and widen it through this general convention,’ he said, ‘Despite doubts about the general convention and the free competition in this difficult situation, it became possible.’ 

For the five vice-chairmen, Prithvisubba Gurung (1737), Bishnu Prasad Poudel (1675), Ram Bahadur Thapa (1516) and Raghuji Pant (1258) from Oli’s side were victorious. Gokarna Bista (1368) from Pokharel’s side has also been elected as vice-chairman. Panta was included in the list of candidates by both parties. The defeated vice-president candidates are Guru Prasad Baral (1137), Binda Pandey (921), Parashuram Meghi Gurung (461), Arun Nepal (439), Tanka Prasad Karki (358) and Bhim Prasad Acharya (265). 

Yogesh Bhattarai of the Pokharel faction, who raised the issue of leadership transfer in UML, won the post of Deputy General Secretary. Two candidates from the Oli faction won the post of Deputy General Secretary. The representatives have made the former Maoist faction win. Lekhraj Bhatta (1452), Raghubir Mahaseth (1368) and Bhattarai (1348) have won the post of Deputy General Secretary. Leader close to Oli, Bishnu Rimal, had to face defeat in both the posts of Deputy General Secretary (1091) and Central Member. Ananda Prasad Pokharel (635) and Baijnath Chaudhary (517) of the Pokharel faction have also been defeated in the post of Deputy General Secretary. Despite withdrawing his candidacy for the post of Deputy Secretary General, Rajendra Gautam got 270 votes.

9 Mahesh Basnet got the highest number of votes in the election for Secretary. Basnet, who was previously a Politburo member, won the post of Secretary by getting 1,544 votes. Similarly, Padmakumari Aryal (1530), Chhabilal Bishwakarma (1506), Sherdhan Rai (1503), Koshi Chief Minister Hikmat Kumar Karki (1337), Khagaraj Adhikari (1231) and Yamlal Kandel (1185), Rajan Bhattarai (1181) and Bhanubhakta Dhakal (1108), who are also the Chief Ministers of Karnali, have won the post of Secretary. The defeated candidates are Gokul Prasad Baskota (1030), Thakur Prasad Gaire (883), Rachana Khadka (877), Karna Thapa (847), Agni Kharel (716), Binod Prasad Dhakal (684), Krishna Gopal Shrestha (625), Lal Babu Pandit (496), Pemba Lama (493), Purushottam Poudel (462) and Indralal Sapkota (405).

Only one woman, Padmakumari Aryal, has won the post of secretary. Former Deputy Secretary General Pradeep Gyawali has garnered the most votes in the election for the open 72 central members. Although he was an aspirant for the post of general secretary, the Oli faction had proposed to raise him to the post of vice-chairman. Dissatisfied with this, Gyawali had not registered his nomination for the post of vice-chairman and had only filed his candidacy for the post of central member. He has garnered 1,942 votes for the post of central member. Out of 2,263 voters, 2,227 representatives voted in the general convention.

000

A dozen central members of the Pokharel faction were elected

Ishwor Pokharel, who was defeated for the presidency, was elected as a central member. Similarly, Binda Pandey, who was defeated for the vice-president position from the Pokharel faction, Rachana Khadka, Krishna Gopal Shrestha, Ananda Pokharel, Karna Thapa, Gokul Baskota, Agni Kharel and Thakur Gaire, who were defeated for the secretary position, were also elected to the central committee. Krishna Bhakta Pokharel, Mindraman Ghale, Jhapat Rawal and Raj Bahadur Budha Chhetri from the same group were also elected to the central committee.

Ram Kumari Jhankri and Kisan Shrestha, who returned to the UML from the Unified Socialist Party, were elected as open central members. Jhankri got 1,911 votes from the women's cluster and Shrestha got 1,560 votes from the open cluster. The leaders who returned home were invited to the general convention as special representatives.

Central members under 40 years of age

After the Gen-G movement, UML had allocated a cluster for the youth under 40 years of age in central members. Govinda Giri, Rudra Bahadur Shahi, Leelamani Gautam, Nawaraj Ojha, Nisha Adhikari, Mobin Alam, Kshitij Thebe, Sunita Dangol, Manoj Tamli and Samrat Gauchan have been elected as central members under 40 years of age. Similarly, Amar Kumar Yadav, Raunik Shah, Nita Ghatani, Naresh Rokaya and Sushil Kumar Thapa have also won from the youth cluster. Suhang Nembang, Elisha Gautam, Asmita Thapa and others under 40 years of age have also been elected from other groups.

000

The party becomes stronger: Oli

The belief that Chairman KP Sharma Oli ‘is ready to break rather than bow down’ is established within UML. When Madhav Kumar Nepal was the party general secretary for 15 years, Oli had led a rebellious streak. Oli is known as a leader who initiated democratic practices in party life.

In 2065, at the eighth general convention held in Butwal, Rupandehi, the proposal put forward by Oli regarding the democratization of party life was passed. At that time, it was decided to transform the party into a multi-position collective leadership. Oli was elected as the president on the basis of similar values ​​and beliefs in the ninth general convention of 2071. 

After becoming the president for the second time at the tenth general convention held in Chitwan in 2078, there are comments within the party that he has abandoned the values ​​and beliefs he himself established. He has been criticized for adopting a policy of prohibiting different opinions within the party. Oli claims that other parties cannot practice democracy like the UML. 

Oli resigned from the post of Prime Minister on 24 Bhadra due to the Gen-G rebellion. After being elected as the party president for the third time on Thursday, Oli lashed out against the government formed on the basis of the Gen-G rebellion. ‘Preparations are being made to attack the UML by saying that it cannot be done by others.’ It is not that easy to attack UML. The day the UML leadership is touched, this country should come to a standstill. The day the UML is touched, this government should fall,' he said after taking the oath.

Oli has claimed that UML will become even stronger. 'Many expected UML to split. They were burning incense to make it split. But their incense will be wasted now,' he said, 'I am saying this as the newly elected president, UML will become even stronger. UML moved forward with this democratic practice.' Oli said that rumors were being spread about physical attacks on the UML leadership and filing fake cases like during the Panchayat period. 

He thanked leaders including Ashtalakshmi Shakya, Yubaraj Gyawali, Keshav Badal, who have taken leave from the party's active and office politics. 

000

Defeated candidate says: We succeeded in returning the party to the democratic process

Defeated candidates in the general convention have responded that the party has returned to the democratic process. Ishwar Pokharel, who was defeated for the presidency, said that the issues raised in the general convention should continue. ‘In the light of the people’s multi-party democracy, I believe that the debate and discussion on important issues such as collective leadership, adherence to the principle of checks and balances to run the party according to the rules and procedures, etc. will continue at a new level,’ he said.

Despite being defeated for the UML vice-president post, Binda Pandey, who was elected as a central member, said she was satisfied that democracy had been restored in the party. But she commented that the election results were unnatural. ‘I am someone who has just returned after being prosecuted, and when the leadership was looking askance, 1,121 delegates voted with hope and faith (for the central member)’, Pandey said, ‘This general convention has created a situation where the party can be returned to a somewhat democratic process. When we went to Sauraha for the 10th general convention, we first announced it and then went into the election process.' 

Pandey says that the other party has been under pressure since the selection of representatives in this general convention. She also said that there is still a review of what happened in the various processes of the general convention. She says that the main challenge for the party in the coming days is the upcoming elections and the change in the public's perception of the party.

Bishnu Rimal, who contested for the post of Deputy General Secretary from the Oli group, was defeated. He could not even win a central member. 'After the competition, there will be either victory or defeat. People did not like it and did not vote, they lost,' said Rimal.

Karna Thapa, who was defeated as a candidate for the post of secretary from the Pokhrel group, said that he created a competitive situation in the party. He says that the results of the general convention have given Chairman Oli the results to take the party forward as he wanted. Thapa, who has been opposing Oli since before Pokhrel, said that how the party will move forward in the coming days depends on Oli. 'The results of the general convention must be accepted. The practice of taking the leadership by the horns was trying to be established, we created a situation of competition,' he said. Although Oli is popular within the party, such a situation is not there among the people, so Thapa believes that we should move forward cautiously. 

Thakur Gaire, who was elected as a central member but defeated in the secretary post, said that the necessary democratic practice and expectations in the party have been fulfilled to some extent. 'A discussion is needed on how to further strengthen this practice in the coming days,' Gaire said, 'We will improve the shortcomings at our level. We will also review the role played by the general convention representative.' Usha Kiran Timsina, who was defeated in the central member post, said that the general convention concluded that the current situation in the party is fine. 'There was a dispute whether we should change or not in the party. The general convention decided that whatever is is fine,' she said.

Rachana Khadka, who was elected as a central member, said that she would accept the results of the competition despite being defeated in the secretary post. ‘We want to achieve excellence through competitive initiatives,’ she said, ‘We are proud of the results achieved through the initiatives.’ 

0 0 0

Democratic competition is best: Analyst

Political party leaders and analysts have commented that competition for leadership selection in UML is best for democracy. They said that it is a good practice for UML to hold a general convention a year ago and select leadership through open competition. 

Congress Publicity Department Chief Min Bahadur Bishwakarma said that since the UML leadership was selected through a democratic process, it will be easier to collaborate in the coming days. ‘Since the experienced leadership has come and the Congress has collaborated with Oli in the past, there is no need to think otherwise,’ he said, ‘It is not for the political parties of the country or the world community to form an opinion about one person in UML. Now, we are confident that UML will be more capable of leading the party in a timely manner in the context of internal democracy and changed circumstances and in collaboration with other parties.'

CPN leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha said that holding the UML general convention was positive when the issue of transformation and reorganization, including leadership changes, was raised in the parties after the Gen-G movement. 'A new leadership was selected through democratic exercise. This should be taken positively,' he said.

Former UML deputy general secretary and acting president of CPN (United) Ghanshyam Bhusal claimed that a political crisis would arise with Oli's return to the UML leadership. 'His (Oli's) orientation is that he will not do good and will not allow others to do so,' he said. 'At this time, UML needed a leadership that would show the path the country should take. Oliji came again. This will increase the crisis within and outside UML.' He said that the election competition should be taken as a natural thing.

The UML general convention selected a popular leadership within the party, said Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) secretariat member Sobita Gautam. ‘The general convention became an opportunity for UML cadres and members to show who the popular leader is. It was also seen that they wanted the party to be guided and run by whom,’ Gautam said, ‘If we look at the leadership that came out of the general convention, UML did not look different from before. The general convention seemed to want a different leadership from the general convention, but that did not happen. The UML general convention seems to have refreshed the party leaders and cadres.’