Internal Party Conflicts Intensify After Election Setbacks

KATHMANDU. Internal disputes have reached their peak in the smaller opposition parties that suffered a blow in the House of Representatives elections held last February. The opposition Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, CPN (Maoist Centre), and other parties, which have been continuously in power and influence since the establishment of a federal democratic republic in 2065 BS, are trapped in a vicious cycle of internal contradictions.

Last year in Bhadra, the Congress-UML coalition government collapsed due to the Genji movement. Genji youth had launched a movement against corruption and malpractices, raising demands for party transformation. In the elections, Congress was reduced to 38 seats, UML to 25 seats, CPN (Maoist Centre) to 17 seats, and RPP to five seats, while the new political party Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) secured 182 seats, nearing a two-thirds majority.