KATHMANDU, AUGUST 27

The Central Committee of the CPN- UML unanimously decided to project party Chair KP Sharma Oli as the next prime ministerial candidate in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

According to UML leader Kiran Gurung, party leaders decided to project Oli as the next prime minister keeping in mind the challenge posed by the ruling alliance and the need to continue the overall policies pursued by the Oli government before the formation of the Sher Bahadur Deuba government. Only a new government under Oli can ensure political stability, protect national independence and achieve the goals of prosperity, he argued.

A press release issued by the UML stated that the upcoming parliamentary and provincial polls would effectively be a referendum. The party said elections would be intricate due to emerging declared and undeclared alliance against 'the forces that support progress and national independence.'

The main opposition party opposed the government for making appointments in government bodies and awarding long-term contracts of development projects at a time when the government's status was reduced to that of a caretaker government.

Stating that the Election Commission had failed to live up to expectation on certain issues, the UML urged the polls panel to play impartial, neutral and effective role in consonance with the constitutional and legal provisions.

The UML Central Committee meeting also set criteria for party leaders who want to contest parliamentary and provincial elections scheduled for November 20.

UML Deputy General Secretary Prithvi Subba Gurung told mediapersons after the meeting that the party had asked the relevant committees to send the names of at least three candidates, including one woman for each first-past-the-post election constituency by September 7.

The UML won't generally allow a person who has already been elected once under the proportional representation system to become a candidate the second time. Gurung said that the party believed that the PR votes were the party's popularity votes and opportunities should be distributed to party leaders in a justifiable manner.

According to Gurung, the concerned panel could also send their opinion along with the names of the proposed candidates. The proposed candidates should not project themselves as candidates until the central leadership decides on their names.

Gurung said that those party leaders who lost the recent elections, would not be allowed to stand in the elections, but the party could take a special decision in the case of those leaders who were formerly associated with other parties, but had joined the UML recently. In the case of FPTP elections, the two-time bar won't apply.

Gurung said candidates who had bright prospects of winning election and who could play important role in the Parliament would be allowed to contest elections.

The Central Committee also adopted Oli's political document along with leaders' suggestions.

A version of this article appears in the print on August 28, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.