Kathmandu, January 12

A meeting of the left alliance task force today fixed four criteria for fielding common candidates for National Assembly elections and for other posts.

The other posts that the criteria will apply include the post of chair and vice-chair of the NA, and key posts including, governors, chief ministers, speakers of the provincial assemblies and provincial ministers.   Today’s meeting of the task force formed by Party Unity Coordination Committee decided to take into account the number of votes that the two parties — the CPN-UML and the CPN-MC — got in the elections.

According to CPN UML leader Subas Chandra Nembang, the meeting decided to distribute the copies of all election results and the recently issued National Assembly Election Ordinance to the task force members so that they could make informed decisions. “The results will help measure our two parties’ strength in the provinces,” Nembang added.

The second criterion that the left alliance would take into account is the candidate’s spirit for  party unity. According to Nembang, the task force will evaluate whether the candidacy of certain leader will contribute to the final goal of uniting the two parties.

The third factor that the left alliance would take into account is the capacity of the probable candidates, his/her popularity and capacity to deliver service.

The fourth factor that the left alliance would take into account is the factor related to inclusiveness and gender balance. “We will see how a candidacy will fulfil the constitutional provision that guarantees inclusion,” Nembang said.

The task force also decided to speed up its work so that both parties could reach an agreement before the nomination of candidacy for National Assembly election. “We will work round the clock to prepare a preliminary report for common candidates,” Nembang added.

He also said that the task force will submit the report to UML Chair KP Sharma Oli and CPN-MC Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal.  “The task force related to organisation and ideology will also start their work after Oli returns from Bangkok”, Nembang added.

Matrika Yadav, who represents the CPN-MC in the task force, said they decided to calculate the total weightage of the votes of the CPN-UML and CPN-MC representatives who will be in the electoral college to elect National Assembly members.“We started our work with the same spirit that we had before distributing provincial and parliamentary tickets to candidates of the left alliance and I hope that we will work in the days ahead with same spirit,” Yadav added.

CPN-MC leader Ram Bhahadur Thapa and Matrika Yadav were present in today’s meeting. UML leader Shankar Pokharel, a member of the task force, is out of station and another UML leader Surendra Pandey reached the meeting venue after the meeting was over.