CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre) have unified on Thursday, eight months after the two ruling parties made an initial agreement on a party unity.

Both the parties endorsed the decision of the Party Unification Coordination Committee (PUCC) to unify the party. The new party will be named Nepal Communist Party (NCP).

A joint meeting of the unified party is underway at Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s official residence in Baluwatar.

After the meeting, top leaders will visit the Election Commission (EC) to officially inform about the unification.

A stage has been set up at the City Hall to officially announce the unification.

What has been agreed??

•             KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal will lead the unified party. Both the chairmen will enjoy equal power in the party.

•             There will be a nine-member secretariat. Oli and Dahal  will be the chairmen. Madhav Nepal and Jhala Nath Khanal will be the senior leaders. Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Ishwor Pokharel, Ram Bahadur Thapa and Bishnu Poudel will be in the secretariat. Narayan Kaji will be the spokesperson and Bishnu Poudel General Secretary.

•             Secretariat will unite and coordinate among politburo and party’s public organisations.

•             There will be a 441-member Central Committee (241 members from the UML and 200 from the Maoist Centre) and a 45-member Standing Committee (25 members from UML and 18 from Maoist Centre)

•             Marxism-Leninism will guide the new party's ideology