Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist)

The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (Nepali: नेपाल कम्युनिष्ट पार्टी (एकीकྃ।रྃऍऍ। ादी-लेनिनवादी)) is a communist party Nepalese. The party was formed in January 1991 with the unification of the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist).

He has led four governments: from 1994 to 1995 under Man Mohan Adhikari, from 2009 to 2011 under Madhav Kumar Nepal, in 2011 under Jhala Nath Khanal, and from 2015 to 2016 under Khadga Prasad Oli. The party was also a junior partner in five coalition governments: in 1997 under Lokendra Bahadur Chand, from 1998 to 1999 under Girija Prasad Koirala, from 2008 to 2009 under Pushpa Kamal Dahal, from 2011 to 2013 under Baburam Bhattarai, and from 2014 to 2015 under Sushil Koirala.

History

The PCN(MLU) was founded in January 1991. It won 69 of 205 seats in the 1991 elections and 16 of 60 seats in the upper house with 29.98% of the vote.

In 1994 the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) split, which in 1996 adopted guerrilla armed struggle during the Nepalese Civil War until 2006, when it entered into a peace process with the new Nepalese government.

At the 5th Congress of the CPN (MLU), Bhandari was re-elected General Secretary but died in a mysterious traffic accident on May 16, 1993. Man Mohan Adhikari and Madan Kumar Bhandari were elected President and General Secretary respectively. In the 1994 elections it obtained 31% of the votes and 88 seats, being the largest party in Nepal.

CPN(MLU) headquarters in Kathmandu.

In December 1994 the CPN(MLU) formed a minority government, with Man Mohan as prime minister. Failing to carry his program through a lack of a majority, he left the government in August 1995. The Nepalese Congress Party formed a government, which lasted until March 1997, when a coalition was formed between the Congress, the Communists and the Nepali Party. Democratic National, whose leader headed the government.

In the local elections of that same year, the PCN(MLU) obtained more than half of the seats (a little more than 50% obtained in those of 1992). At the 6th Congress, held in January 1998, Madhav Kumar replaced Bhandari as Secretary General. There were some defections, which organized under the name of the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist), who would reunify in 2002.

In the parliamentary elections of 1999, the Party obtained 31.61% of the votes.

When King Gyanendra dissolved the Nepalese Parliament in 2005, the CPN(MLU) was part of the opposition movement that would end in 2008 to overthrow the monarchy and establish a republic.

The CPN(MLU) ruled Nepal between 2009 and 2011 under its former secretary general, Madhav Kumar Nepal, amid political instability following the end of the monarchy.

The current Chairman of the CPN(MLU) is Khadga Prasad Oli, the current Prime Minister of Nepal.

Disbanded on May 17, 2018 to make way for the Communist Party of Nepal in a merger with the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), However, on March 7, 2021, the Supreme Court of Nepal declared that the assignment of the name Communist Party of Nepal after the merger of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and, by extension, the merger itself, was void, since the name was already was assigned to a party led by Rishiram Kattel, and that the Communist Party of Nepal was 'dismissed'. Following the ruling, the two predecessor parties were revived in their original states immediately before the merger, meaning that the Communist Party of Nepal was dissolved, and therefore, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) were re-founded as independent parties.

On 18 July 2021, 22 members of parliament voted for Sher Bahadur Deuba in defiance of the party's whip. A dispute arose between former Prime Ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal and KP Sharma Oli due to Madhav's faction supporting the government even though the party was the opposition party. On 18 August 2021, Madhav Kumar formed a new party called the Communist Party of Nepal (Socialist Unity). Former Prime Minister Jhalanatha Khanal, the party's vice-chairmen and up to 31 MPs joined the new party. This made a division of the party committees from upper to lower level.

Flag and emblem

The PCN-UML flag is red with a white hammer and sickle in the canton. The emblem includes the flag and the initials stylized forming a circle.

Other communist parties in Nepal use this same flag.

The United People's Front features the hammer and sickle in the center, in yellow or white.

Mass fronts

• The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions
• Nepalese Farmers Association
• The Association of Nepalese Women
• National Federation of Democratic Youth
• Nepal National Free Students Union
• The National Popular Cultural Forum