Communism in Nepal

Communism in Nepal traces its roots back to the pro-democracy movement of 1951, and the subsequent overthrow of the autocratic Rana regime and the establishment of democracy in Nepal. The communist movement in Nepal has split into factions multiple times and multiple factions have come together into a single fold at times as well. It has a history of getting banned from open political discourse, as well as multiple instances of embracing guerrilla insurgency, most notably, the Maoist insurgency in the 1990s and early 2000s that led to the Nepalese Civil War, claiming at least 17,000 lives.

In 2006, the Maoists and other main political parties (communist and otherwise) formed a united coalition, launching a successful peaceful civil resistance against the dictatorial coup d'état by the monarchy. This resistance movement resulted in the abolition of the monarchy in 2008 and the drafting of a new constitution. The constitution affirmed Nepal as a secular, federal, democratic republic, which strived towards democratic socialism. The two main communist parties of Nepal contested the first election according to the new constitution as a coalition, eventually leading to their unification in 2018. The unified party had a strong majority in the federal parliament, as well as six out of seven provinces of Nepal, until splitting again into the original two parties in 2021.


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