Two Left parties of Nepal merge, form powerful bloc

Kathmandu, February 20

Nepal’s two main Communist parties CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre have struck a historic merger deal and formed the country’s biggest political bloc after their sweeping win in the federal and provincial polls, a move, experts say, may usher in the much-needed political stability.

The Left Alliance of the CPN-UML, led by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and CPN-Maoist Centre, led by former premier Prachanda, had in December secured 174 seats in the 275-member Parliament in the provincial and parliamentary polls.

Top leaders of the two communist allies, in a meeting last night in Baluwatar, officially approved the “left unity” deal, agreeing in principle on party leadership, organisation and ideology.

The deal, brokered through a series of negotiations since the two sides reached an understanding on merger in October last year, has confirmed the biggest political union in Nepal’s history.

It will convert the first and the third largest parties into a single political entity.

The two parties had secured a comfortable majority in six of the seven provinces. In 2015, Nepal adopted a new Constitution that split the country into seven provinces.

In a seven-point pact signed by Oli and Prachanda, the two sides have agreed to form Communist Party of Nepal (CPN), a leftist party with Marxist-Leninist ideology as its guiding principle.

 The Maoist party will join the government within a couple of days, said Sunil Manandhar, secretariat member of the Maoist Centre. — PTI