Voting to elect UML’s new leadership concludes after nearly 21 hours

KATHMANDU: Voting to elect new leadership of the CPN-UML during its ongoing 11th General Convention concluded in Kathmandu on Thursday morning.

Although polling began at 10 am on Wednesday, general convention representatives voted continuously till Thursday morning as the process moved at a notably slow speed.

Although the Central Election Commission of the party had deployed 80 voting machines, general convention representatives said it took them as much as 35 minutes to cast their votes.

Out of the total 2,263 convention representatives eligible to vote, 2,227 cast their votes.

According to the commission, counting will begin at 8 pm, and the final results are expected within a few hours.

Outgoing Chairperson KP Sharma Oli and outgoing Senior Vice Chairperson Ishwar Pokharel are contesting for the party’s leadership. They had fielded separate panels in the election.

As per the party statute amended by the 11th general convention, the general convention representatives will elect a 301-member Central Committee consisting of one chairperson, five vice chairpersons, one general secretary, three deputy general secretaries, and nine secretaries.