Nepal’s Maoist party announced on Tuesday an alliance with the largest communist bloc, ahead of key elections seen as the final step in the Himalayan nation’s post-war transition to a federal democracy.
The two parties, with a third smaller partner, have agreed a tie up for general elections later this year, and plan to unify as a single communist party following the polls.
“We had said before, after the signing of the peace deal, that Nepal should have a single communist party. We are now finishing that incomplete process,” Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal said at a press conference announcing the deal.
The Maoists have dominated Nepal’s politics for more than 20 years after waging a decade-long insurgency against government forces that claimed more than 16,000 lives.