KATHMANDU, JUNE 26
The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) ended its historic first general convention with the last elections of the central committee marred by a sharp decline in voter turnout and public allegations of factionalism.
The newly-elected office bearers and members of the central committee took the oath of office and secrecy at a function in the convention hall today. RSP Chairman Rabi Lamichhane, re-elected unopposed, took the oath of office administered by Bhuwan KC, head of the party's election commission.
Speaking after his swearing-in ceremony, Lamichhane expressed his party's new political position. He said the RSP, which is leading the country's largest government with nearly a two-thirds majority, would move forward as a mature political force with absolute commitment.
He admitted mistakes in the past and said, "The shortcomings we ignored during these past four years have started to be reflected in our programmes. However, this cannot be allowed to continue indefinitely."
Internal data showed considerable delegate apathy even as the leadership called for unity. The final roster of convention delegates remained to be finalised, but Lamichhane had already been elected unopposed, and the RSP did not formally announce the total number of delegates attending the convention.
While party leaders often said that 4,311 delegates had come to the convention, only 2,959 voted in yesterday's first election for the 99 central committee members. Delegate turnout was even lower for today's leadership elections, many of them having gone home early. Ultimately, just 1,289 votes were cast to decide the remaining executive positions.
Remarkably, about 70 per cent of the convention delegates abstained from voting in the leadership elections. It included Chairman Lamichhane, who was in Chitwan at the time but did not come to cast his vote, and Prime Minister Balendra Shah, the senior leader of the party, who had already returned to Kathmandu on Wednesday.
Chairman Lamichhane had first tried to choose the whole leadership by consensus. However, when talks in the backrooms failed, a second round of voting was called for the contested seats. The final election results showed a clear pattern of factional alignment, dividing the outcomes between the loyalists of Chairman Lamichhane and those aligned with PM Shah.
Swarnim Waglé, finance minister and a close confidante of Lamichhane, was already elected unopposed for the post of vice-chairman (open category) yesterday. In a controversial vote for the post of woman vice-chairperson, Law Minister Sobita Gautam, another staunch loyalist of Lamichhane, defeated Dr Toshima Karki, who is described by the party insiders as a close ally of the prime minister. The RSP's statute allows for three vice-chairs in the party, one of which is yet to be filled by nomination.
Meanwhile, Bipin Kumar Acharya, a founding member of the party and a long-time companion of Lamichhane, was elected general secretary. He defeated Sagar Dhakal and Ganesh Karki, both supported by the PM's faction, as well as Manish Jha, whose relationship with the party chairman has reportedly deteriorated. Several other general secretary candidates, including Ganesh Parajuli, Raju Pandey, Kabindra Burlakoti, Jagadish Kharel, Ranju Darshana and Pramod Neupane, withdrew their candidatures to support Acharya.
After his defeat, candidate Ganesh Karki wrote on social media, "Winning or losing is just a technicality; the main focus is the democratic election within the party. Let us hope this election will widen the democratic road of the party further. Heartfelt congratulations to my friend Bipin Acharya on being elected general secretary."
The factional divide split straight into the race for the joint general secretaries. In the open category, MP Hari Dhakal of the Lamichhane faction and Asim Shah of the Shah faction, who is now the prime minister's political advisor, were elected. The two defeated a large field of contenders including Ramesh Prasai, Yagyamani Neupane, Sulav Kharel, Ashok Kumar Chaudhari, Milan Limbu, Rajiv Khatri, Vijay Jairu and Himesh Panta.
In the women's category, Lamichhane's loyalist and Jhapa MP Nisha Dangi won by a landslide with 737 votes, defeating Julie Yadav, Bidushi Sharma, Kamini Kumari Chaudhari and Reema Bishwokarma. The RSP structure provides for five joint general secretaries. The other two positions are to be filled by nomination of the party chairman.
The election process was subjected to sharp criticism from within the party. Prior to the vote count, general secretary candidate Ganesh Karki argued that democracy is strengthened by the votes of delegates rather than backroom consensus.
He further criticised the leadership for hypocrisy, citing the words of Chairman Lamichhane and Prime Minister Shah, who passionately condemned factionalism at the opening ceremony in Bharatpur on June 21.
Karki said that the emergence of factions in the first general convention of the party itself was a threat to the founding principles of the party. "Elections come and go, but the process, policy and character of a party stay. It is the job of leadership to shore up these foundations. The leadership should not be involved in scheming and faction-building. We must not strip away the right to a democratic election from delegates who are sweating it out and spending their hard-earned money to be here," he stated.
Following the initial phase in which 99 central committee members were elected by delegates, the party's entire structural framework will now be heavily dependent on leadership appointments. Chairman Lamichhane intends to directly nominate 12 additional office bearers, including one senior leader, one vice-chairman, one general secretary, a spokesperson, three joint spokespersons, a treasurer and two joint treasurers.
Furthermore, Lamichhane will nominate 51 new central committee members. As per RSP statute, this will complete the core 151-member Central Working Committee. When the chairpersons of the party's seven provincial committees - who serve as ex-officio members - are included, the full RSP Central Committee will have 185 members.