Incumbent chair of the CPN-UML, KP Sharma Oli, secured a landslide re-election victory through the party’s 11th general convention, which concluded on Thursday. Most of the office bearers elected belong to the Oli panel, with only Gokarna Bista (vice-chair) and Yogesh Bhattarai (deputy general secretary) elected from the dissident panel led by Ishwar Pokhrel. Once again, Oli reigns supreme in the party after 12 years since his first election as party chair. Well, the widespread call for generational power transfer has clearly failed to reach the ears of most of the convention delegates who voted on Wednesday.

In this dark new cloud hovering over the UML, there are also some silver linings, though. First, the convention marked a clear departure from the significant internal disputes and undemocratic practices seen during the 10th general convention held in 2021 in Sauraha, Chitwan. Oli had handpicked a majority of office-bearers and central committee members during that convention and suppressed dissenting voices such as Bhim Rawal and Ghanashyam Bhusal. At the very least, the 11th convention saw the formation of a panel of dissident candidates. Second, the convention saw senior leaders such as Asta Laxmi Shakya and Yubraj Gyawali take voluntary retirement from active party politics, setting a precedent for other ageing leaders, not just in the UML but other parties as well.

As we welcome these positive changes, it’s harder still to overlook the downsides of Oli’s reelection as UML head. He was the country’s prime minister when the Gen Z protests broke out and the state forces massacred 19 unarmed youths on September 8, with a total of 77 individuals killed in two days of rioting. One of the big agendas of the movement was to remove the three septuagenarian chiefs of the three major parties; Oli one of them. Not just that. Oli is under state investigation for his role in suppression of the peaceful protests. He also routinely mocks the Gen Z movement, and even refuses to recognise the innocent lives lost during its course.

These downsides of Oli’s leadership have been clear to the general public in the aftermath of the Gen Z movement. Yet the convention delegates still voted for him. This was despite the fact that besides his dubious role as the country’s executive head, he has also systematically suppressed dissent in the party and run it as his personal fief. Now a big question mark hangs over these delegates. What is the kind of party they are trying to build by re-electing someone who faces grave moral questions both as the country’s executive head and the party chair? Do they too subscribe to the view that the sacrifice of young martyrs on September 8 was nothing more than part of an ‘international conspiracy’ against the erstwhile Oli government? And was there really no option to the ageing and tried and tested Oli in a party that boasts of around 700,000 cadres?

So much has happened in the country in the past four months. A youth-led, leaderless movement toppled a government. An interim government with a meritorious cabinet has been formed. People’s faith in the mainstream parties is waning. The political landscape has been transformed. Yet, the UML convention delegates have shown themselves to be oblivious of all these changes happening right in front of their eyes. Not that Oli’s chief rival for party chair, Ishwar Pokhrel, an Oli acolyte himself, was someone Nepali people would enthusiastically endorse. Yet Pokhrel at least recognised the legitimacy of the Gen Z movement and seemed ready to steer the party away from Oli’s draconian ways.

Given his rigid disposition, it is hard to see Oli changing overnight and working to steer the party and the country on the democratic path. Going into March 5 elections under Oli, who by all measures is very unpopular among the youth in what is a young country, will also be a huge risk for the UML. They will not have to wait for much longer to find out if their reckless gamble has paid off.