Rastriya Prajatantra Party
राष्ट्रिय प्रजातन्त्र पार्टी |
|
---|---|
President | Kamal Thapa |
Founded | 1990 |
Headquarters | Chabahil Kathmandu, Nepal |
Ideology |
National conservatism Liberalism centre-right politics Hinduism |
International affiliation | International Democrat Union |
Constituent Assembly |
37 / 601
|
Website | |
www.rppnepal.org | |
The Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Nepali: राष्ट्रिय प्रजातन्त्र पार्टी; translation: National Democratic Party) is a Nepalese political party. It is a centre-right, liberal conservative party, formed out of the political elite of the erstwhile Panchayat system, formed on 1990, after reestablishment of democracy in Nepal. It was formerly pro-monarchy, leaving the Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal as the only major monarchist party in Nepal.
In 1997 RPP split after the faction led by pro-monarchy politician 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 UML-RPP government. Effectively RPP-Chand began to function as a separate party. In 1998 the RPP-Chand and RPP-Thapa were reunited, after both factions had fared badly in the elections that year.
In the 1999 legislative elections, the party won 10.4% of the popular vote and 11 out of 205 seats.
At the third general convention of RPP, held in Pokhara 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). There were three candidates for the party chairmanship; the then general secretary Pashupati SJB Rana, the vice-chairman Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani and the Central Committee Member Rabindra Nath Sharma. Rana was elected as the new chairman with 735 votes. Lohani got 321 votes and Sharma 135 votes. A new Central Working Committee was elected, consisting of Kamal Thapa, Jayanta Chand, Buddhiman Tamang, Surya Bahadur K.C., Jog Mehar Shrestha, Padma Sundar Lawati, Bikram Pandey Dhurba Bahadur Pradhan, Parsu Ram Khapung, Deepak Bohora, Balaram Gharti Magar, Jagat Gauchan, Khem Raj Pandit, Rajiv Parajuli, Govinda Raj Khaniya, Prem Bahadur Bhandar, Bhuwan Pathak and Narendra Kumar Chaudhary. The convention also elected a 64-member Central Committee.