Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist)
The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) (Nepali: नेपाल कम्युनिष्ट पार्टी (एकीकृत मार्क्सवादी-लेनिनवादी), romanized: nēpāl kamyuniṣṭ pārṭī (ēkīkṛt mārksavādī-lēninavādī); abbr. CPN (UML)) is a communist political party in Nepal. The party emerged as one of the major parties in Nepal after the end of the Panchayat era.
Communist Party of Nepal
(Unified Marxist–Leninist)
नेपाल कम्युनिष्ट पार्टी (एकीकृत मार्क्सवादी-लेनिनवादी)
(Unified Marxist–Leninist)
6 January 1991
Thapathali, Kathmandu
Nawayug
550,000 (August 2023 est.) [2]
National Party
(2nd largest)
Khadga Prasad Oli has been serving as party chairman since the party's ninth general convention in 2014.[8] The party currently holds 80 seats in the House of Representatives, having won 26.95% of the party list votes in the 2022 general election and is the second largest parliamentary group.[9] The party was the major coalition partner in the current CPN (Maoist Centre) led coalition government[10] until withdrawing its support on 27 February. There have been four prime ministers from the party while the party has led the government five times.
CPN (UML) was the main opposition after the first election following the restoration of multi-party democracy. The party led a minority government under Manmohan Adhikari following the 1994 election. The party joined a coalition government with CPN (Maoist) in 2008 in the first elections after the end of the monarchy in Nepal and led two governments under Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhala Nath Khanal during the term of the 1st Constituent Assembly. The party also led the first government after the promulgation of the new constitution with KP Sharma Oli serving as prime minister. Oli again served as prime minister following the 2017 election.
The party was formed in January 1991 after the merger of the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist–Leninist). The party merged with CPN (Maoist Centre) to form the Nepal Communist Party on 17 May 2018 but the new party was dissolved and CPN (UML) was revived by a Supreme Court decision on 8 March 2021.[11][12] The party claimed to have 855,000 members as of December 2021 making them the largest party in Nepal by membership which later fell down to 550,000 in October 2023.[13][14]
History[edit]
Origins and early years, 1991–1993[edit]
The United Left Front was formed in 1990 to protest the Panchayat system and restore multi-party democracy. They organized a joint movement with the Nepali Congress, and King Birendra yielded to their Jana Andolan in November 1990. Two constituents of the United Left Front, CPN (Marxist) and CPN (Marxist–Leninist), merged on 6 January 1991 to form the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) before the 1991 elections, and the United Left Front became inactive.[15]
Organisation[edit]
Central organisation[edit]
The National Convention is the supreme body of CPN (UML) and it is organized every five years by the party's Central Committee. The national convention elects the central secretariat and the central committee of the party. The convention also discusses and approves political documents, organisational proposals and amendments to the party constitution.[87]
The Central Committee of the party is the highest decision-making body within general conventions and is responsible to the national convention. The National Convention elects a Central Secretariat consisting of a chair, a senior vice-chair, six vice-chairs, one general secretary, three deputy general secretaries and seven secretaries. The Central Secretariat along with other elected members make up the 301-member Central Committee of the party. The chairs of the seven provincial committees of the party are also ex-officio members of the Central Committee. One-third of the committee is also required to be female. The Central Committee also elects a 99-member Politburo and a 45-member Standing Committee among its members.[87]
When the Central Committee is not in session the Politburo is the highest decision-making body, the Standing Committee follows the Politburo in hierarchy and the Central Secretariat follows the Standing Committee. The National Convention also elects a Central Disciplinary Commission, a Central Accounts Commission and a Central Electoral Commission. A Central Advisory Council can also be formed by the Central Committee if needed.[87]
Provincial and local organisation[edit]
Party committees exist at the provincial, district, local, ward and neighborhood level. In addition to this the party has a separate special committee in the Kathmandu Valley which is in the same level as the provincial committees in the party. The provincial committee holds a provincial convention every four years and the rest of the committees hold a convention every three years except for neighborhood committees which hold a convention every two years. The convention elects the leadership and members of the committee which is the supreme decision-making body in between conventions. The party also has organisational committees for areas where the party does not have presence yet.[87]
(in English and Nepalese)
