Former prime minister and senior leader of Nepali Congress Sher Bahadur Deuba has been elected as party president in a run-off, defeating acting Party President Ram Chandra Poudel with a wide margin.

Deuba, a three-time prime minister, secured 1822 votes out of 3,120 votes cast in the runoff on Monday. His rival Poudel secured 1296 votes. A third candidate for the party presidency, General Secretary Krishna Situala, who secured 324 votes in the first-round election on Sunday, dropped out of the race.

Briefly speaking to Post right after his election victory, Deuba said he would unite the party and focus attention on implementing the new constitution. “From today, there will be no factions in the party, my sole purpose is to make party united,” Deuba said.  Deuba further said that as a party chief he would play a key role for the implementation of constitution.

In an interview with Post just before the convention, Deuba has said that implementation of newly adopted constitution and making party united were his key priorities as a party president.

This was Deuba’s third attempt at party’s top job. Earlier, NC late president’s Girija Prasad Koirala and Sushil Koirala defeated him in the party’s 10^th and 12^th conventions held in 2000 and 2010 respectively. With Deuba’s victory, the leadership of NC has been officially handed over non-Koirala family after the two decades. Poudel contested for party president first time.  There was a void of leadership after Sushil Koirala died ahead of party’s convention.

Deuba is eighth president of NC since its establishment. Tanka Prasad Acharya, BP Koirala, Subarna Shumsher, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Girija Prasad Koirala and Sushil Koirala are the president of NC since its establishment in 1947. BP and GPK served as party president for three terms, Bhattarai for two terms, while Acharya and Shumsher served for single term.

 A run-off was held after none of the three candidates managed to secure required fifty-plus percent votes in the first round. Deuba was 11 votes short of the magic figure 1575. The run-off voting was held from 2 pm to 7 pm on Monday, and 3121 votes were casted which 3148 was in the first round of voting out of 3161 convention representatives.