Kathmandu: Voting for the election of new leadership of CPN-UML is in process after it was delayed, officials said.
Voting began Wednesday morning at the 11th General Convention in Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu, of the CPN-UML, led by former Nepal prime minister KP Sharma Oli.
The voting process began at 9 am after candidates for the chairperson, Oli and Ishwor Pokharel, cast their votes using electronic voting machines. In total, 2,263 general convention representatives are exercising their voting rights in the 11th general convention of the UML.
The election was supposed to start Tuesday, but due to a technical problem, it was delayed by 24 hours till Wednesday, the party sources said.
The voting will last till midnight, and the results will be announced soon after the voting concludes, said party sources.
Observers are keenly watching the UML election this time as it is happening shortly after Oli’s ouster from power following the Gen Z movement.
Their main concern is whether the UML representatives will endorse the massacre committed under the leadership of Oli to suppress the Gen Z protests by re-electing Oli as the president or choosing his alternative.
Oli’s rival candidate for party president, Pokharel, said that Oli, as the head of the then government, must take at least moral responsibility for the killings, and he should appear before the probe commission to investigate the matter if summoned, which Oli has categorically ruled out.
This time, the election will not be as easy as in the past for Septuagenarian leader Oli, who is seeking the post of party chair for the third consecutive term.
Oli has been in the top post of the party for more than a decade. He got elected to the party’s chair during the 9th and the 10th convention with a comfortable majority, but this time the contest will be tough for him, party insiders said.
In the past five-year period following the 10th general convention, Oli has sidelined all of his opponents, including Madhav Kumar Nepal, Bhim Rawal, Jhalanath Khanal, Ghanashyam Bhushal and Bamdev Gautam, who challenged his hegemony in the party.
Most of them have lately chosen Pushpakamal Dahal Prachanda to lead the new party, Nepali Communist Party.
However, this time, having the backing of former President Bidya Devi Bhandari, his rival in the presidential election, Ishwor Pokharel, is giving Oli a tough fight.
