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Koirala re-elected Nepali Congress president

Deepak Goel in Pokhara (West Nepal)

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala was re-elected president of the ruling Nepali Congress at its tenth national convention in Pokhara town on Monday night, but the fate of his supporters contesting membership to the party's Central Working Committee was undecided as the counting of votes proceeded slowly even early on Tuesday.

With as many as 66 aspirants in the field for the 18 CWC seats up for election in Monday's voting, ballot-counters faced a hard task in tallying the votes and broke off for a much-needed rest late on Monday night.

With counting having resumed early on Tuesday morning, it was learnt that only some 500 of the 1,468 votes cast from among the total 1,477 national convention delegates had been counted so far.

The final results are, therefore, expected later in the day, but, according to those monitoring the counting process underway in the Dipendra Sabha Grih, most of Koirala's supporters were leading their rivals in the closely contested race.

Prominent among those whose fates hang in the balance are Taranath Ranabhat, speaker of the Pratinidhi Sabha (lower house of parliament), Nepali Congress general secretary Shailaja Acharya, deputy prime minister and home minister Ram Chandra Poudel, finance and defence minister Mahesh Acharya and communications minister Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta (all Koirala loyalists).

In the anti-Koirala group, still on tenterhooks are former ministers Khum Bahadur Khadka, Birmalendra Nidhi, Prakash Man Singh, Bijay Kumar Gachchhedar and Purna Bahadur Khadka.

The vote for Koirala was a strong indicator of the shape of the 37-member CWC -- half of which is being elected now.

Koirala bagged more than 65 per cent support from the National Convention delegates while his rival, former premier and young Turk Sher Bahadur Deuba, got less than 35 per cent.

His re-election has not only consolidated his grip on the party, the largest and oldest political entity in the Hindu Himalayan kingdom, but has also reduced the perceived influence of the rival camp.

The anti-Koirala lobby had so far been thwarting his actions, both in the party and government, and more often than not he had to kowtow to them.

Political observers in Nepal contend that the situation now will be more favourable to the septuagenarian politician and support his drive for a collective leadership within the Nepali Congress and his choice of political successor in the near future.

UNI

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