UML, Maoists to merge, Oli to be PM

: Two months after the successful conclusion of parliamentary elections, the victorious CPN-UML party on Wednesday formally named its chairman, KP Sharma Oli, as Nepal’s next prime minister.

A meeting of the party’s standing committee proposed Oli as the next premier with the support of its leftist ally, the CPN-Maoist Center, said CPN-UML leader Surendra Padney.

As the head of the largest party in the lower house of Parliament, Oli is the natural claimant for the post but requires support from the Maoists to secure a majority.

According to Pandey, the standing committee also gave the nod to a formal merger between the CPN-UML and the CPN-Maoist Center. The two communist parties had decided last October to jointly contest the elections.

According to an agreement, Oli and CPN-Maoist Center chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” will be co-chairs of the new Communist Party and split the premiership on a rotational basis, Pandey said.

Modalities for the rotation of the premiership, merger of the parties, and the organisation and political doctrine of the new party will be determined by a task force formed by both parties. Oli will formally stake a claim at the President’s Office as soon as Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba puts in his papers after chairing a final meeting of his cabinet.

KATHMANDU