Nepal: New United Comunist Party Formed

From The Rising Nepal, January 12, 2009

CPN-Maoist, Unity Centre unified

Kathmandu, Jan 12 - CPN Maoist and CPN (Unity Centre-Masal) were formally unified on Monday, creating a new communist party – CPN (Unified-Maoist) that will aim at orchestrating a New Democratic Revolution in the country.

With the unification of the two parties, the Prachandapath will no more be the guiding principle of the party. It will be guided by the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist principles. The joint convention of the two parties today decided to take Prachandapath into the internal discussion of the party.

"We have successfully unified the two parties," said Narayankaji Shrestha ‘Prakash’, former general secretary of the CPN-Unity Centre-Masal, talking with the media people following the merger.

Prakash said that the joint meeting decided to have 175-member central committee, which will be the organiser of the party convention. Currently, the central committee has 137 members – 106 from the CPN-Maoist and 31 from the Unity Centre. The next meeting of the party will appoint the rest of the members.

The joint meeting also elected Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ as the chairman of the new party. It decided to dissolve the CPN-Maoist and the CPN (Unity Centre-Masal).

It endorsed the political report and the interim statute. The interim statute will guide the party until the party’s convention.

The party will organise a unification declaration mass meeting tomorrow in Kathmandu.

Nar Bahadur Karmacharya, founding member of the Communist Party of Nepal, said that the two parties decided to unite in order to bring about the New Democratic Revolution in the country.

Prior to the joint convention, the CPN-Maoist decided to increase the number of central committee members to 106. The separate meetings of the two parties had reached a common viewpoint that the revolution has not been completed in the country.