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The May 13 local elections were a bit of an upset for the CPN-UML, relegating the party to a distant second spot behind the ruling Nepali Congress (NC). It took an electoral alliance of five parties—Congress, CPN (Maoist Center), CPN (Unified Socialist), Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal, and Rastriya Janamorcha Party—to cut the UML down to size. 

Nepali Congress won 329 (43.8 percent) local unit chief seats (chairperson/mayor) while UML had to contend with 205 seats (27.3 percent). The Maoist Center came out third with 121 seats (16.1 percent).  

The UML, which had won 294 top seats in the 2017 elections, lost 89 seats. This defeat largely owed to a split in the party—with the Madhav Nepal faction forming the Unified Socialist in August 2021—and the five-party electoral alliance.   

Though the Congress has won most number of local unit chief seats, the UML still got the highest number of combined votes cast for seven different posts (mayor/chairperson, deputy mayor/ vice-chairperson, ward chairperson, women member, Dalit women member, and two open members). A total of 75.8m votes were cast for all seven posts, and the UML garnered 25.8m of them. This was 34.13 percent of the total votes. 

This number could vary as the Election Commission has not published the detailed data of Triyuga Municipality, Udayapur district, while a re-election was also held in Budiganga Municipality, Bajura district.

The UML had received 21.4m votes in all the seven posts in the 2017 election. The total number of voters this time was 3.66m more than in the previous election. 

Overall, the NC received 847,994 fewer votes than the UML this time. 

The Congress candidate for all the seven posts got 25m (33 percent) of the total votes. The party had received 28.74m votes in 2017.

The Maoist party increased its seat numbers this time, but their vote count fell by 1.8m. The party received 10.1m (13.65 percent) of the total votes this time. 

According to the Election Commission, out of 17.7m voters, 12.1m (68.7 percent) cast their votes this time, of which about 1.3m votes were invalid.

The results were expected

Meena Poudel
Political analyst

It was obvious that the Nepali Congress would do better in this election, and nobody has gained more from the coalition than Congress. The split of the then Nepal Communist Party (NCP) and the CPN-UML also helped.

The split in the UML and the party’s poor leadership at the local level in its previous tenure also contributed to the loss.

Also, the gung-ho attitude of UML Chairman KP Oli also cost the party many neutral voters. 

But remember that the organizational strength of the UML remains formidable, as was indicated by the party getting more votes than any of the other parties.

As for the Maoist Center, the five-party coalition, as well as Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s role in national politics, won the party a few extra seats. 

When the previous government led by the UML’s Oli dissolved the House of Representatives, Dahal played a cooperative role in protecting democracy. 

This narrative has also helped the Maoist party. Whether we like him or not, he has been a kingmaker.

There is an easy way to irk a Kathmandu-based American diplomat. Just ask: “Does the US see Nepal through Indian eyes?” In response, you will perhaps get an exaggerated eye-roll, soon followed by a reply along the lines of: “Surely, after seventy-five years of engagement, you know better than to ask that!” Well, that old question may never go away. But perhaps time has come to tweak the question, and inquire: “Does India see Nepal through American eyes?”

The Americans appear to have sold India’s strategic community on the usefulness of its China-controlling Indo-Pacific Strategy. South Block mandarins and think tank-wallahs in New Delhi are increasingly comfortable with greater American sway in Nepal. That is the only way to check China’s alarming rise of influence in the Himalayan state, they reckon, something India cannot do on its own. As Ashok K. Mehta, an old Delhi-based Nepal watcher, puts it: “The US may be promoting its own interests in this region, but those are not very different to India’s own interests,” he says. More than anything else, “India wants to keep China at a safe distance, especially in Nepal.” 

India has of late taken a low-key approach in Nepal, in sharp contrast to the earlier times when it was actively meddling in the country’s domestic affairs. Now it seems happy to watch the growing US-China tussles in Kathmandu from the sidelines. In doing so, India keeps its hands (and reputation) clean while also knowing that should the American engagement in Nepal get too close for comfort, it can always jump right back into the old game.

Full story here. 

Minister of Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki has said the long-standing friendly relations between Nepal and Israel are getting better.

Speaking at a programme organised by the Embassy of Israel in Nepal and the BP Museum Committee at Sundarijal on the occasion of the 62nd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Minister Karki referred to the bilateral relationship established during the tenure of the first elected Prime Minister BP Koirala.

"Although establishing relations with Israel was a challenging task during that time, Prime Minister Koirala triumphed owing to proper understanding of the situation then," said Minister Karki.

Israel continues to remain an attractive destination for Nepali students and youths, especially in the field of agriculture.

Also speaking on the occasion, former foreign minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat said Nepal had been supporting Israel's independence, sovereignty and security for long. He expressed commitment to continue to hold same position in the days to come.

On the occasion, former foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali stressed the need to further strengthen the 60-year-old bilateral ties between Nepal and Israel.

Likewise, former Tourism Minister Hisila Yami said the role of the first elected Prime Minister BP Koirala was important in maintaining diplomatic relations with Israel. She said Nepal should follow the example of Israel as it had made progress in many areas.

Israeli Ambassador to Nepal Hanan Goder said BP, the first elected prime minister of Nepal, had written a novel on Hitler and the Jews, and that his commitment was to further strengthen the relationship between the two countries.

Former Nepali ambassador to Israel Anjan Shakya said BP was an ideal personality of Nepal and even though the world had different views, he had established diplomatic relations by accepting Israel's independent existence on behalf of Nepal.

Diplomatic relations were established between Nepal and Israel on 1 June 1960. On the occasion, Museum Committee Chair Parshuram Pokharel said BP had to spend more than eight years in Sundarijal jail owing to the relationship established with Israel.

Chairperson of the CPN (Unified Socialist) Madhav Kumar Nepal has ruled out the possibility of communist unification at present.

There is no truth in the reports about an alliance between the CPN (UML), the CPN (Maoist Center) and the Unified Socialist, he said at a press conference organised today in Surkhet.

There is not any possibility of unification with the UML and any electoral alliance with it, he said, adding that this existing communist democratic coalition would continue until coming provincial and parliament elections.

"Egoists and conspirators have circulated many types of rumours in a bid to break the existing communist democratic alliance. We are not hungry for any position. We can cut through such rumours."

On the budget for the next fiscal year, 2022/23, the former Prime Minister commented that it did not target coming elections. "It has been brought in times of elections. But it is not election-centered."

As he said, his party achieved a proud achievement in the recently organised local election. He however claimed that they had to lose some seats in the poll due to a lack of clarity of their election symbol.