KATHMANDU, Nov 26: CPN-UML Senior Vice Chair Ishwar Pokhrel on Tuesday formally announced his candidacy for the party chairmanship ahead of the 11th National General Convention scheduled for December 13–15.
Releasing a long and emotive statement, Pokhrel expressed respect for the youths who voiced their dissatisfaction over governance and accountability during the September 8 and 9 Gen Z protest.
“I respect the movement of the new generation on September 8 demanding an end to corruption and the establishment of good governance,” Pokhrel said in the second paragraph of the four-page statement. He also condemned the infiltration and vandalism that occurred during the same protest, calling for an impartial investigation.
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“I strongly condemn the infiltration that took place later and the destruction on September 9. I demand a fair, fact-based investigation and strict action against those responsible,” he said.
Pokhrel had initially intended to announce his candidacy in the presence of former President Bidya Devi Bhandari but ultimately chose to release the statement independently. He said the decision reflected his long-standing commitment to integrity and collective leadership. “I have always placed the nation, the people, and the party above everything. I believe in law, coordination, collective effort, and collaboration—not merely in power,” he wrote.
He further noted that the political and organizational documents endorsed at the UML’s second Statutory General Convention held from September 5 to 7 must be reassessed in light of the political transformation following the Gen Z protests of September 8 and 9, which toppled the UML-led government headed by KP Sharma Oli and paved the way for the citizen-led government under former Chief Justice Sushila Karki.
Reflecting on the same convention, which had consolidated Oli’s dominance within the party, Pokhrel added, “Some of our earlier conclusions need updating.”
Born in Morang’s Difu village in February 1954, Pokhrel entered the communist movement in the 1970s and became a founding central member of the CPN (ML) in 1978. After the formation of CPN-UML in 1990, he continued to rise within the party, becoming a key organizational figure, particularly in the Terai–Madhesh region where he worked extensively from Janakpur.
Over the decades, he has held several critical national responsibilities. He served as political adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Adhikari in 1994 and later headed the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies from 2004 to 2006. Pokhrel served two consecutive terms as UML General Secretary from 2009 to 2018 and was a member of the Special Committee for the Rehabilitation of Maoist Combatants from 2009 to 2013. He briefly served as Minister for Foreign Affairs in 2012 and later as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence from 2018 to 2021, while also representing Kathmandu-5 in the federal parliament until 2022. In recent years, as Senior Vice President, he has positioned himself as a prominent advocate for internal reform and leadership renewal within UML.
Pokhrel stressed that the UML must now prioritize strengthening internal democracy, emphasizing the need to reinstate the two-term limit for the party’s top leadership. “Leadership development and transition must follow a clear, democratic process,” he said.
