Spread the love

By Our Reporter

The ruling UML has concluded that the party’s popularity was diminishing in the urban areas.

The party made this conclusion while reviewing the results of the local-level by-elections held on 1 December.

In a meeting of the party secretariat held on Tuesday, the UML admitted its failure to connect effectively with urban public opinion.

Despite not retaining all seven wards it had previously secured in the 2022 local elections, the party managed to win eight positions, including chair and vice-chair posts.

  After the meeting, General Secretary Pradip Gyawali said, “While the by-election included seven seats previously held by the party, we succeeded in winning a total of eight seats overall. However, we have taken the overall results seriously.”

He added that the disappointing results in Kirtipur and Kathmandu Metropolitan City-16 highlighted the need for the party to focus more on aligning with urban voters.

The party concluded that further efforts were necessary to strengthen its connection with voters in urban areas.

In the past, the UML was strong particularly in urban areas as it won four of the five House of Representatives seats of Kathmandu in 1991 elections and all five in 1994 snap polls. The party won most seats in Lalitpur, Chitwan and Makwanpur until 1999 general elections. But it failed to win even a single seat in the Kathmandu Valley in 2008. However, UML improved its position in urban areas in 2013 and 2017 elections. But, again it performed poorly in 2022 election as it won only one of the 10 House of Representative seats in Kathmandu. This time UML was almost sure to win the position of ward chair of Kathmandu-16 and the mayoral seat of Kirtipur. But the party got third votes in Kirtipur. Overall, the UML was behind the CPN (Maoist Centre) in the recently held by elections, and this prompted the party to realise its waning popularity in cities. 

Gyawali stated, “The UML has noted that public opinion has shifted not only in the case of UML but across the board. Taking this seriously, the party has concluded that elected representatives must earn the trust of the people.”