Rastriya Prajatantra Party
The Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Nepali: राष्ट्रिय प्रजातन्त्र पार्टी, lit. 'National Democratic Party'; abbr. RPP, RaPraPa (Nepali: राप्रपा)) [Nepali pronunciation: [rasʈrijʌ prʌˈd͡zatʌntrʌ ˈpa(r)ʈi]) is a constitutional monarchist and Hindu nationalist political party in Nepal.[12] It was formed by former prime ministers Surya Bahadur Thapa and Lokendra Bahadur Chand, who served two terms each as prime minister since the end of the Rastriya Panchayat. Rabindra Mishra, the former chairman of Bibeksheel Sajha Party, has joined the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) on September 28, 2022. UML president KP Oli, who is going to contest from Jhapa-5, is on the way to become stronger by alliance with RPP and in return, it seems that UML will support Lingden in Jhapa-3.[13]
During the 1990s the party played vital role and stood as the third political front after Nepali Congress and CPN (UML).[14]
History
Founding and early years, 1990–1991
The Rastriya Prajatantra Party was formed by the ruling elite of the Panchayat era on May 29, 1990. The party split in 1991 over technical differences and two parties bearing the same name, ideology and statute came into existence. The two parties one led by Surya Bahadur Thapa and the other led by Lokendra Bahadur Chand contested the 1991 elections. The two parties did not perform as expected, Thapa's party winning 1 seat and Chand's party winning 3 seats, and the two parties decided to merge again.[13]
First general convention, 1992–1994
The party held its first general convention on 1992 in Kathmandu and unanimously elected Surya Bahadur Thapa as its chairman. Lokendra Bahadur Chand and Rajeshwor Devkota were elected leader and co-chairman, respectively.[13]
In the 1994 elections, the party received 18 percent of the votes and won 20 seats to the House of Representatives, making them the third largest party in the parliament. No other party got a majority and the party joined coalition governments with Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) and Nepali Congress successively.[14]
Second split, 1997–1999
In 1997 the party split after a faction led by Lokendra Bahadur Chand joined a coalition government with Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), with Chand as Prime Minister. The faction led by Surya Bahadur Thapa allied itself with Nepali Congress and toppled the government. The party expelled Lokendra Bahadur Chand and nine supporters for threatening to back a no-confidence motion against the Thapa led government and Chand started his own party. The second general convention of the party took place in 1998 in Birgunj with Surya Bahadur Thapa again becoming chairman. Prakash Chandra Lohani, Pashupati SJB Rana and Kamal Thapa were nominated as vice-chairman, general secretary and spokesman respectively.[13]
The two parties contested the 1999 elections and fared badly in the election with the partly led by Surya Bahadur Thapa winning 11 seats and the party led by Lokendra Bahadur Chand not winning any seats. Following the elections, the parties decided to merge again.[13]
King's rule and Mass Movement II, 2002–2006
After the king dismissed the government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba in October 2002, Lokendra Bahadur Chand was appointed Prime Minister but he resigned in May 2003 and was replaced by Surya Bahadur Thapa.
At the third general convention of the party held in Pokhara in December 2002, Surya Bahadur Thapa retired from his post as party chairman (which was mandatory according to the party constitution, as he had served two four-year terms). Pashupati SJB Rana was elected chairman during the convention and Padam Sundar Lawati, Kamal Thapa and Roshan Karki were nominated vice-president, general secretary and spokesperson respectively.[13]
The party in December 2003 called for Surya Bahadur Thapa to resign as Prime Minister for undermining people's multiparty democracy and he eventually resigned in May 2004. The party split again in March 2005 when former party president Surya Bahadur Thapa broke away and formed a new centre-right liberal party, the Rastriya Janashakti Party.[15]
When the King dissolved the parliament and started his own rule in 2006, the party announced their support for the pro-democracy agitation led by the Seven Party Alliance but ten members of the party's central committee, including spokesperson Kamal Thapa, supported the King. The party members were expelled, including six cabinet ministers, and they eventually formed their own party, the royalist Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal, led by Kamal Thapa.[15]
Constituent Assembly, 2007–2015
When the Interim-Legislature Parliament was formed under the leadership of Girija Prasad Koirala, the party had nine seats becoming the largest opposition party. In the 2008 elections the party won 8 seats to the Constituent Assembly of Nepal through the party-list proportional representation system.[15] The party joined the Madhav Kumar Nepal led government in June 2009.
In May 2013, the Rastriya Janashakti Party merged with the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, with Surya Bahadur Thapa leading the party. The party won 13 seats in the 2013 elections, 3 first past the post and 10 party-list proportional representation seats, becoming the sixth largest party in the 2nd Constituent Assembly. The support for the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist)-Nepali Congress coalition government earned the party two portfolios in the new cabinet.[16]
Unification and splits, 2016–2020
On 21 November 2016, Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal and Rastriya Prajtantra Party announced their unification. The new party retained the name of Rastriya Prajatantra Party. The new party had a total strength of 37 in the Parliament of Nepal, becoming the fourth largest party.[17] Kamal Thapa was elected chairman of the party in a special general convention in Kathmandu in February 2017.[18] The party split again due to differences in selecting the electoral symbol of the party and Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani formed a new party, the Unified Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Nationalist) on March 29, 2017.[19] Another split occurred after Pashupati SJB Rana broke away forming Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Democratic).[20] In the 2017 legislative and provincial elections, Rastriya Prajantatra Party formed an alliance with Nepali Congress and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Democratic).[21] The party only won one seat to the House of Representatives with only Rajendra Lingden being elected.[22] The party also could not become a national party after failing to pass the three percent threshold in proportional representation.[23] The party also won one seat each to provincial assemblies of Province No. 1, Province No. 3 and Province No. 6.[24]
Re-unification and new leadership, 2020–present
The Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Samyukta) merged with the party on 12 March 2020, with Kamal Thapa, Pashupati Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana and Prakash Chandra Lohani all acting as chairs.[25][26]
The party conducted its general convention on November and December of 2021 and elected Rajendra Prasad Lingden as the party's chairman. He defeated party chairman and former deputy prime minister Kamal Thapa at the general convention.[27][28][1] The party also announced that there were 150,000 active members of the party.[29][30][31][32] The general convention also elected mayor of Nepalgunj Dhawal Shamsher as the party's general secretary and former member of constituent assembly Bikram Pandey as the party vice president.[32]
Following the general convention, Kamal Thapa left the party and revived the Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal.[33] The party also announced intentions to unify other pro-monarchist groups under their umbrella and groups including Nepal Ka Lagi Nepali Campaign, Mission Nepal, Gorach Abhiyan and the Gyanendra Shahi led Hamro Nepal Hami Nepali Campaign joined the party with Shahi becoming a spokesperson of the party.[34] Former chairman of Bibeksheel Sajha Party, Rabindra Mishra also joined the party on 28 September 2022 as senior vice-president.[35]
The party fielded 140 candidates to the House of Representatives at the 2022 general and provincial elections and forged an election pact with CPN (UML) in Jhapa, Banke and Rupandehi districts.[36]
Ideology
The Rastriya Prajatantra Party was established as an alternative force to the major political parties, Nepali Congress and Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist). The party was founded on the principles of democracy, constitutional monarchy, nationalism and economic liberalism.[37][38][39] When the monarchy was abolished in 2008 and Nepal was declared a secular state, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal changed its constitution to support monarchy and the re-establishment of the Hindu state.[40] After the merger between the two parties it was announced that the Rastriya Prajatantra Party would take up the constitution of Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal.[17] The party has stated support for a Hindu state with religious freedom and registered an amendment proposal for such on March 19, 2017.[41]
Electoral performance
Legislative elections
% Votes of RPP and its splinter groups | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Election | Leader | Votes | Seats | Position | Resulting government | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | % | No. | +/- | ||||
1991 | Surya Bahadur Thapa | 392,499 | 5.38 | 1 / 205
|
7th | Opposition | |
Lokendra Bahadur Chand | 478,604 | 6.56 | 3 / 205
|
5th | Opposition | ||
1994 | Surya Bahadur Thapa | 1,367,148 | 17.93 | 20 / 205
|
19 | 3rd | Opposition |
1999 | Surya Bahadur Thapa | 899,511 | 10.44 | 11 / 205
|
9 | 3rd | Opposition |
Lokendra Bahadur Chand | 293,952 | 3.41 | 0 / 205
|
9th | Opposition | ||
2008 | Pashupati SJB Rana | 310,214 | 3.01 | 8 / 575
|
3 | 8th | Opposition |
2013 | Surya Bahadur Thapa | 238,313 | 2.63 | 13 / 575
|
5 | 6th | Coalition government with the Nepali Congress and the CPN (UML) |
2017 | Kamal Thapa | 196,782 | 2.06[a] | 1 / 275
|
12 | 7th | Opposition |
2022 | Rajendra Prasad Lingden | 579,275 | 5.70 | 14 / 275
|
13 | 5th | TBD |
- ^ Represented as Independent for not reaching the 3% threshold
Provincial elections
Provincial Assembly | Election year | Votes | Seats | Resulting Government | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | % | No. | Position | |||
Province No. 1 | 2017 | 57,342 | 3.30 | 1 / 93
|
5th | Opposition |
Bagmati | 59,268 | 3.13 | 2 / 110
|
5th | Opposition | |
Karnali | 15,629 | 3.16 | 1 / 40
|
4th | Opposition |
Leadership
Current Party portfolios
No. | Portfolio[42][43][44] | Office holder | Terms in Office | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Start | End | Tenure | |||
1 | Chairman | Rajendra Prasad Lingden | 5 December 2021 | Incumbent | 2 years, 169 days |
2 | Senior Vice-chairman | Rabindra Mishra | 28 September 2022 | Incumbent | 1 year, 237 days |
3 | Deputy chairman | Bikram Pandey | 5 December 2021 | Incumbent | 2 years, 169 days |
Buddhi Man Tamang | |||||
Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan | |||||
Roshan Karki | |||||
Hemjung Gurung | |||||
Mukundashyam Giri | |||||
4 | General Secretary | Dhawal Shamsher Rana | 5 December 2021 | Incumbent | 2 years, 169 days |
Bhuwan Pathak | |||||
Kunti Shahi | |||||
Rajendra Gurung | 31 January 2022 | 2 years, 112 days | |||
Pralhad Prasad Sah | |||||
4 | Central Secretariat | Hem Jung Gurung. Ramananda Neupane. Gopi Dhakal. Laldhoj Lama. Hari Prasad Ghimire. Mina Shahi. Dipak Ranjit. | 10 February 2022 | ||
5 | Spokesperson | Bhakti Prasad Sitaula | 31 January 2022 | Incumbent | 2 years, 112 days |
Mohan Shrestha | |||||
Sagun Sundar Lawati | |||||
Gopal Dahal | |||||
Gyanendra Shahi | 15 February 2021 | 2 years, 97 days | |||
6 | Joint general secretary | Mohan Prasad Yadav | 31 January 2022 | Incumbent | 2 years, 112 days |
Dhan Bahadur Budha | |||||
Shyam Bahadur Shahi | |||||
Prakash Rimal | |||||
Rabindra Pratap Shah | |||||
Jhanak Pyakurel | |||||
Reena Gurung | |||||
7 | Assistant Spokesperson | Pravin Kumar Thokar Tamang | 31 January 2022 | Incumbent | 2 years, 112 days |
Dinesh Kumar Sah | |||||
Purna Bahadur Chand | |||||
8 | Assistant general secretary | Ramnand Neupane | 31 January 2022 | Incumbent | 2 years, 112 days |
Bijay Khadka | |||||
Prem Balayar | |||||
Rishiraj Debkota | |||||
Tahir Ali | |||||
Deepak Kumar Rai |
List of Chairmen
No. | Chairman | Portrait | Terms in Office | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Start | End | Tenure | |||
1 | Surya Bahadur Thapa | 1992 | 2002 | 10 years | |
2013 | 2014 | 2 years | |||
2 | Pashupati Shamsher JBR | 2002 | 2013 | 21 years | |
2014 | 2016 | 2 years | |||
2020 | 2021 | 1 year | |||
3 | Kamal Thapa | 2016 | 2021 | 5 years | |
4 | Prakash Chandra Lohani | 2020 | 2021 | 1 year | |
5 | Rajendra Prasad Lingden | 5 December 2021 | Present | 2 years, 169 days |
Prime Ministers
No. | Prime Minister | Portrait | Terms in Office | Legislature | Cabinet | Constituency | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Start | End | Tenure | ||||||
1 | Lokendra Bahadur Chand | 12 March 1997 | 7 October 1997 | 209 days | 3rd House of Representatives | Baitadi 2 | ||
11 October 2002 | 5 June 2003 | 237 days | Appointed by King Gyanendra | Chand, 2002 | ||||
2 | Surya Bahadur Thapa | 7 October 1997 | 15 April 1998 | 190 days | 3rd House of Representatives | Dhankuta 2 | ||
5 June 2003 | 4 September 2004 | 1 year, 91 days | Appointed by King Gyanendra |
Provincial committee chairmans
Province | Chairman | Term start | Reference |
---|---|---|---|
Province No. 1 | Ram Thapa | 2021 | [45] |
Province No. 2 | Bharat Giri | ||
Bagmati Province | Bikram Thapa | ||
Gandaki Province | Hem Jung Gurung | ||
Lumbini Province | Pradip Kumar Uday | ||
Karnali Province | Dip Bahadur Shahi | ||
Sudurpashchim Province | Dharma Raj Joshi |
List of Members of Parliament
List of Pratinidhi Sabha members from Rastriya Prajatantra Party
No. | Portrait | Constituency | Province |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Bikram Pandey | Chitwan 3 | Bagmati |
2. | Deepak Bahadur Singh | Makwanpur 1 | Bagmati |
3. | Deepak Bohara | Rupandehi 3 | Lumbini |
4. | Dhawal Shamsher Rana | Banke 2 | Lumbini |
5. | Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan | Nawalparasi West 2 | Lumbini |
6. | Gyan Bahadur Shahi | Jumla 1 | Karnali |
7. | Rajendra Lingden | Jhapa 3 | Province No. 1 |
See also
References
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