US embassy cable - 02KATHMANDU390

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 000390 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PINR, NP, Political Parties 
SUBJECT: NEPAL'S MAIN OPPOSITION PARTIES MERGE, BUT REMAIN 
IN THE MINORITY 
 
 
Putting the U Back in UML 
------------------------- 
 
1. (U) Nepal's main opposition party, the Communist Party 
of Nepal - United Marxist and Leninist (UML), merged 
February 15 with a smaller former offshoot, the Communist 
Party of Nepal - Marxist-Leninist (ML).  (Note: The 
combined parties will continue to use the UML name. 
Although communist by name, these parties more closely 
resemble European social-democratic parties.  UML leaders 
claim to be even more democratic that the ruling Nepali 
Congress, which in the UML view remains feudal, nepotistic 
and corrupt.  End Note.) 
 
The Minority's Minority No More 
------------------------------- 
 
2. (SBU) In 1998, friction between leading figures in the 
UML came to a head when UML parliamentarians opposed to 
the Mahakali Treaty with India broke ranks and formed the 
ML.  Although the ML garnered six percent of the votes in 
the 1999 general election - making it the third largest 
party in terms of the popular vote - it was unable to win 
any seats in Parliament.  Efforts at reunification began a 
year later, when the ML leadership saw that, as a former 
minority in a minority party, they had made no inroads 
with a platform only slightly to the left of the well- 
established UML.  The head of the UML's foreign department 
expressed hopes that the reunified UML could win a 
majority in the next national elections, slated for 2004. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
3. (SBU) The history of the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) 
has, since its founding in 1949, been a story of schisms, 
factions, and (occasional) reunifications.  Two of the 
main Maoist leaders, Prachanda and Baburam Bhattarai, both 
founded their own schismatic CPN franchises in 1994, and 
two years later merged them into the Maoist movement 
currently menacing the nation.  (Note:  According to UML 
leader Madhav Nepal, since the Maoists' insurgency began 
at least 45 CPN-UML cadres have died at the hands of the 
Maoists.)  While the UML reunification was formalized 
February 15, many assignments in the new party leadership 
have yet to be made.  The centripetal trend behind the UML- 
ML merger stems in part from increasing frustration over 
Nepal's security and economic problems, but also because 
many ambitious CPN leaders dislike being left out in the 
cold. 
 
MALINOWSKI