Supported by Maoist-aligned Revolutionary Journalists´ Association (RJA), Gaunle defeated Poshan KC in the election held on Wednesday. Gaunle secured 685 votes against the 444 votes secured by his nearest rival KC. [break]
Gaunle is the candidate Press Chautari, which is close to the CPN-UML, while KC is the candidate of Nepali Congress-aligned Nepal Press Union (NPU).
Similarly, Yahoda Timsina of Press Chautari was elected as vice chairperson while Om Sharma of RJA made it to the post of general secretary for the next three years. Jagat Nepal, who has been elected to the post of secretary, is the only NPU candidate to be elected in the FNJ´s office bearers´ body. Sheetal Shah of Press Chautari was likewise elected as treasurer.
This is the first time a leftist candidate has made it to the post of the president of FNJ. Over 1,300 journalists from across the country had cast their votes on Wednesday´s voting.
Similarly, Khim Ghale and Dilip Thapa Magar from indigenous quota, Sangeeta Khadka, Santa Basnet and Durga Bhandari from women and Nisha Biswakarma and Prakash Chandra Pariyar from dalits have been also been elected central members.
Likewise, Bal Krishna Basnet and Matrika Paudel have been elected as FNJ central members from corporate houses and Ujjwal Acharya and Prakash Thapa from associate quota. Damodar Timsina and Dipak Pandey have been elected as FNJ central members from the Kathmandu Valley.
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