Deposed Nepal PM Oli gets re-elected as CPN-UML chair for third term

Ousted Nepal Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli was on Thursday (December 18, 2025) elected as the CPN-UML’s chairman for the third consecutive term with a two-thirds majority.

Mr. Oli was elected the Communist Party of Nepal – Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) chairman in a contest held three months after his government was forced to resign following a protest.

During the 11th general convention of the party that concluded on Thursday (December 18, 2025), Mr. Oli secured 1,663 votes against his opponent Ishwor Pokharel, who received 584 votes, according to party sources.

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Mr. Pokharel, 71, had received the backing of former President Bidya Devi Bhandari, his rival in the presidential election.

The convention started with a public meeting in the Bhaktapur district and concluded with the election of Mr. Oli and other office bearers and central committee members of the party.

Shankar Pokhare, from Mr. Oli’s panel, was elected to the post of General Secretary of the party for the second term. He defeated Surendra Pandey, former finance minister, who contested the election from Mr. Pokharel’s panel.

Among 19 office bearers of the party, 17 were elected from Mr. Oli’s panel, while two were from Mr. Pokharel’s panel.

Prithvi Subba Gurung, Bishnu Paudel, Raghuji Panta, Ram Bahadur Thapa and Gokarna Bishta have been elected to the post of Vice President. Among them, only Gokarna Bishta is from Mr. Oli’s rival team.

Similarly, among three deputy general secretaries, Lekh Raj Bhatta, Yogesh Bhattarai and Raghubir Mahaseth, Bhattarai is from Mr. Pokharel’s team. All nine secretaries were elected from Mr. Oli’s team.

Hundreds of cadres belonging to Mr. Oli took out a victory procession in Kathmandu’s Bhrikutimandap, where the general convention was held, soon after the election results were out.

Mr. Oli has been in the top post of the party for more than a decade. He was elected to the party’s chair during the ninth and the tenth conventions as well with a comfortable majority.