Nepal's two Left parties merge to form largest Communist party

Nepal's ruling CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre today formally merged to form the Nepal Communist Party (NCP), the country's largest Left party, eight months after they initially agreed on the unification.

The CPN-UML, led by Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, and the CPN-Maoist Centre, led by former premier Prachanda, announced the formation of the grand party at a press conference following a series of meetings.

Addressing the media following the official merger of the two communist parties, Prachanda said, The unification between CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre) is like forming water by combining hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen and oxygen cannot be separated once they turn into water.

He termed the unification between the two communist forces as a "great step".

The former prime minister said that the new party formed after the unification of two parties will work for stability, development and prosperity for people.

Oli said the unification will now help government to achieve the goal of prosperous Nepal.

A nine-member central secretariat and a 45-member standing committee have been formed to steer the party. Similarly, a 441-member central committee was also formed with the inclusion of 45 per cent members from the former CPN-Maoist Centre.

Now, the new party has a strength of 175 members in the 275-member House of Representatives, which is nearly two third majority.

Earlier, Oli held a joint meeting of the unified party at the Prime Minister's official residence in Baluwatar.

At the meeting, central members of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) took the oath of office and secrecy, following which Oli and Prachanda administered the oath of office and secrecy to each other.

As per the terms of agreement of the unification of the two parties, Oli and Dahal will lead the unified party and a nine-member secretariat, and enjoy equal power.

It was also decided to transfer all the properties registered in the name of CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre to the new party.

After the meeting, top leaders went to the Election Commission to inform it about the unification of the two parties into a new party, the Nepal Communist Party and as it new election symbol as "sun", which was the election symbol of the CPN-UML, according to a senior leader of the CPN-Maoist Centre, Sunil Manandhar.

Following the party's registration, a meeting of joint central committee members was organised.

The two left parties have agreed to share central committee members among themselves in the proportion of 55 (UML) - 45 (Maoist-Centre) basis.

The new party will have 441-member central committee which include, 241 members from the UML and 200 from the Maoist Centre. Likewise, it will have a 43-member standing committee with 25 representatives from the UML and 18 from the Maoist Centre.