essay on political parties of nepal

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Nepali Politics: Political Parties, Political Crisis and Problem of Governance

Usually an organization is created to perform one particular function. When that function is no longer needed, the organization faces a major crisis. It either finds a new function or reconciles itself to a lingering death (Huntington, 1965). Nepali politics is in a state of transitional flux. The initial transition phase, backed by the spirit of the 1990 popular movement and restoration of multi-party system in April 1990, promulgation of a new Constitution in November 1990, general elections 1991 and local elections 1992, was smooth in demolishing partyless panchayat structures and setting up democratic institutions. The stability of the obtaining democratic structures is ensured by the Constitution providing for popular sovereignty, constitutional monarchy, multi-party parliamentary system, and fundamental rights of citizens as unamendable (Constitution, 1990). The avowed commitment to the fundamental principles of the Constitution by both the rightist Rashtriya Prajatantra Party...

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International Res Jour Managt Socio Human

Political parties, as representatives of diverse socio-political and economic views, they are the lifeblood of democracy in a country. They ensure the participation of different class and walks of life in the nation- building and decision making process. In this regard political parties are the integral part of the successful conclusion of a mature democracy in a country. In the Case of Nepali politics, the emergence of political parties associated with the Asian resurgence and anticolonial movements in India. And finally political parties in Nepal lead the anti Rana Movements in 1950, and established a democratic government which was led by the Nepali Congress. The Nepali Congress, along with six other parties called Seven Party Alliance Party alliance organise massive protest against Party less Panchayat System in 1990 which was introduced by the King. It was again led the second People’s Movement under the banner of the United Peoples Front along with the Maoist in 2006. And in the 2013 Constituent Assembly Election it had made a successful victory, gained highest seats in the Constituent Assembly.

Karl-Heinz Krämer

Starting with a short introduction into the historical development of political parties in Nepal, this presentation concentrates on the events after 1990. Since then, executive and legislative powers have been in the hands of the political parties. Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, the two leading parties of the 1990 system, failed to develop the young democracy into an inclusive system. This gave rise to the Maoist insurgency that pretended to fight for the rights of the excluded sections of society. After the intermezzo of a royal putsch, Nepali politics faced a people's movement in 2006 that led to a new beginning with the intention of guaranteeing a durable peace and replacing the constitutional monarchy by a federal republican system. Despite successful elections to a constituent assembly in April 2008 and the abolition of monarchy one month later, the political parties have not been able to reach these two goals, yet. The crisis culminated once again on May 28, 2011, when the t...

South Asia Masala http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/blogs/southasiamasala/2013/12/16/constituent-assembly-election-ii-in-nepal-will-it-end-the-prolonged-political-transition-3/

Binod Chapagain

Researcher: A Research Journal of Culture and Society

Amrit Kumar Shrestha

Nepali Congress (NC) is one of the oldest political party of Nepal. It played a vital role to abolish the century long autocratic Rana rule in 1951. It fought against the party-less Panchayat system and the regressive step of the king. It opposes active kingship and communism. It believes in a representative democracy. It has participated in every election of Nepal that was conducted democratically. It won more than two-thirds majority seats in the first general election held in 1959. In every election, it stayed in the first or second position. This article tries to analyze the status of NC in the elections of Nepal. Data of seven general elections were examined in this article. Data were extracted basically from the reports of the Election Commission.

Nepal's commitment to democracy is still quite young and the process of finding it is far from complete. The inherited burdens of the state have been a particular problem for decades. In the following, the author sheds light on the deep state structure and thus illuminates some of the current problem constellations. Characteristics of such historical background are about three events in the last 70 years, which have been described as a kind of revolution or at least as popular movements. During the same period, two transitional constitutions and not less than five official constitutions were adopted.

Than Bahadur Chhetri

Social Inquiry: Journal of Social Science Research

Khimlal Devkota

The article reflects upon different political movements that took place in Nepal before Nepal was declared a republic and argues that all the earlier political movements failed to declaration of republic, because of the crisis of leadership and leaders’ dilemma to make decisions in the right time. The article is prepared based on the survey of literature on Nepali political transition ranging from the Rana regime, a close study of Nepali politics till the declaration of republic in 2008 mapping of literature related with leadership skills and qualities. After a comprehensive study, I have come to a conclusion that Nepali political movements have repeatedly failed due to the failure and crisis of leadership because of indecisiveness. Right decision in right time is make sense of leadership quality.

Matteo Miele

Shiva K Dhungana

United States Institute of Peace

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In Nepal, Post-Election Politicking Takes Precedence Over Governance

The latest bout of coalition politics glosses over the country’s troubling drift toward further political instability.

Wednesday, February 8, 2023 / By: Deborah Healy;  Sneha Moktan

Publication Type: Analysis

This past November, Nepalis participated in the second federal and provincial election since its current constitution came into effect in 2015. With 61 percent voter turnout , notably 10 percent lower than the 2017 general elections, the polls featured a strong showing from independent candidates.

Almost half of the incumbent members of parliament — even former premiers, cabinet ministers and party leaders — lost their seats to independents or new political rivals. Amid the political instability that has wracked Nepal over the past several years, including a near constitutional crisis in 2021, the electorate appeared to be holding political leaders accountable at the ballot box for putting politicking above governing. 

A Surprising Coalition in Parliament

However, what followed election day has dampened hopes for political reform or renewal. Spurred by public resentment toward the established parties, no single party or existing coalition secured a parliamentary majority. Most expected that the outgoing government, led by the Nepali Congress party, would form a new majority following a brief period of negotiation. However, talks between the Nepali Congress’ outgoing Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Pushpa Kamal Dahal, leader of Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre (CPN-MC), broke down when the two failed to agree on who would hold the post of prime minister.

After talks with the Nepali Congress ended, Dahal, who is often known by his nom-de-guerre “Prachanda” from his time leading insurgent forces during Nepal’s decade-long civil war from 1996-2006, swiftly brokered a new alliance with his sometime rival, sometime ally KP Sharma Oli and the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML). The two men agreed they would rotate the prime minister’s office between them, with Prachanda serving as prime minister first. With this agreement in hand, Prachanda was sworn in as prime minister on December 26.

Two weeks later, Prachanda was constitutionally obligated to face parliament for a confidence vote. In a surprising reversal, the Nepali Congress and other parties in the opposition announced that they, too, would support the new governing coalition — giving Prachanda a unanimous vote of confidence.

Some analysts suggest this was an attempt by the Nepali Congress to undermine Prachanda’s alliance from the outset by giving Prachanda and the CPN-MC a back-up coalition partner-in-waiting should their pact with the CPN-UML fall through. This would weaken Oli and the CPN-UML’s negotiating power in the new government. The move also dilutes parliamentary checks and balances and calls into question the opposition’s ability to independently scrutinize the actions of a prime minister and government that it helped put in place.

The unanimous vote of confidence creates issues for Prachanda as well, as he must now manage a multi-party coalition representing a spectrum from Marxists to monarchists. Meanwhile, Nepali citizens once again are frustrated and disappointed to see a government formed by parties that have lost a significant number of electoral seats acquire the lion’s share of cabinet positions.

Ongoing Struggle to Implement Federalism

Nepal’s political theme for the last decade has been precarity, and this latest political theater comes amid some worrying trends. Governments rarely run full terms and politicians have played musical chairs with political appointments. Meanwhile, closed-door power-grabs have undermined the electorate’s will. In the seven years since Nepal became a federal state, any initial optimism for the success of federalism has largely waned.

In 2021, only 32 percent of Nepalese said they were satisfied with provincial governments, and chief ministers have complained about the federal government’s reluctance to implement federalism. Provincial assemblies have received limited funding, resources and capacity building support to enable them to be an effective tier of government.

With the outcomes of the 2022 general elections, federalism will continue to face challenges. The governing coalition’s inclusion of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), which served as an umbrella party for the election’s independent candidates, will likely disrupt decisions affecting provincial governments. The RSP are anti-federalism — they did not field any candidates for the provincial government elections, and there were incidents on election day where their supporters visibly rejected Provincial Assembly ballot papers.

With such divergent views within the government, it remains to be seen whether provincial governments will get the support they need to provide effective governance or whether federalism will be able to plant stronger roots in the governance system of Nepal.

Walking a Geopolitical Tightrope

Nepal is wedged between China and India, meaning the country must maintain a delicate balancing act to keep amiable relationships with both powers. While the “left-leaning” parties such as CPN-UML and CPN-MC, who have traditionally been seen as being close to China, seek to strengthen those ties, Nepal has deep historical, cultural and religious ties to India.

However, in recent years, the relationship between Nepal and India has at times been fractious — especially when communist parties have occupied the prime minister's office in Nepal and the right-leaning Modi has occupied the prime minister's office in Delhi.

When Nepal was reeling from devastating earthquakes in 2015, there was an unofficial Indian blockade at the border later that year, which soured India-Nepal relations and saw Oli look to Beijing for support. And in 2019-2020, nationalistic sentiment both in Delhi and Kathmandu — when Oli was prime minister — came to the fore over disputed territories along the border, with both governments re-drawing the demarcations set out in the Sugauli Treaty of 1816. 

While accusations of foreign interference in domestic politics have increased over recent years, the domestic political flux has actually made it difficult for foreign powers to negotiate, influence or broker power dynamics in a sustained manner. With fluid alliances and an average of just under one prime minister per year for the past 15 years in Nepal, neither China nor India seems to be able to pull geopolitical strings in the country for a sustained period.

The rollercoaster fate of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact further emphasizes this point. The MCC agreement provides $500 million in U.S. grants to support programs to improve electricity and transportation in Nepal. And while the previous Nepali Congress-led government got MCC ratification over the line, it was only after months of protests against the MCC that were fuelled largely by misformation. Now that the MCC is ratified, high-level U.S. officials have been visiting Nepal in quick succession .

While Prachanda’s political victory was welcomed by media outlets in Beijing, given the diverse political ideologies among the coalition, foreign powers near and far will likely struggle to identify true power brokers and influence national politics. On the other hand, this diplomatic uncertainty also makes it harder to build long-term sustained international relations.

Disinformation Continues to Fuel Conflict

In addition to Nepal’s political instability and diplomatic balancing act, social media has been rife with false information on various issues over the past few years, most notably the MCC. Disinformation around the MCC stoked concerns around Nepal’s sovereignty and fuelled several protests in Nepal in 2022.

The elections saw an uptick in this misinformation and disinformation, with doctored images, forged documents and false claims regarding various political leaders, as well as the former U.S. ambassador to Nepal, circulating over social media. This only served to stoke further allegations of U.S. interference in Nepal’s politics. Should this narrative be allowed to continue, it has the potential to fuel further anti-American sentiment in Nepal.

As political parties, politicians and allegedly foreign actors continue to utilize social media to control or twist narratives, senior journalists fear that the worst is yet to come for Nepal in terms of organized disinformation campaigns. In a country where political dissatisfaction has been simmering for decades, and with the government preoccupied with smoothing over the differences in the coalition, such campaigns could trigger political unrest and violence.

The Lack of Women on the Ballot

Nepal’s parliamentary electoral system is split: Voters are asked to choose from a list of candidates  for their district’s parliamentary seat as well as for a political party in the country’s proportional representation (PR) system. 165 members of parliament are directly elected to parliament, while the remaining 110 seats are filled based on parties’ vote share in PR list results.

Out of the 4,611 candidates who directly contested seats in the federal parliament, only 225 (9.3 percent) were women. Of this number, only 25 were fielded by the main political parties. The lack of female candidates on the ballot resulted in only nine being directly elected in the country’s first-past-the-post system — only three more than in 2017.

To meet the constitutionally mandated one-third female representation rule, political parties fielded more female candidates under the PR list system. The PR list system was meant to provide electoral opportunities to women and candidates from marginalized and indigenous communities — but members of parliament can only serve one term through the PR list. The intent was to give these underrepresented groups a chance to build experience, after which they could contest a directly elected seat.

Instead, Nepal’s major political parties have repeatedly taken the easy option of nominating new female candidates to the PR list system to ensure they meet the one-third quota rather than nominate experienced women for directly elected seats.

While the parties are fulfilling the constitutional obligations by meeting the quota, there seems to be little long-term investment in developing women leaders. Going forward, the parties need to do more to increase female and marginalized community representation and promote a more representative and inclusive parliament that reflects the spirit of the constitution — not one dominated by the same figures who wish to maintain the status quo. 

Where Does Nepal Go from Here?

The past two decades have yielded significant transitions for Nepal: a peaceful resolution to the decade-long Maoist conflict, as well as the end of monarchy and the promulgation of a new constitution that upheld secularism, inclusion and federalism.

But this positive momentum seems to now be staggering, with the same actors from several decades ago largely interested in maintaining a status quo while inflation steadily rises and federalism struggles.

While political forecasting in Nepal continues to be as accurate as reading tea leaves, there continues to be concerns about prolonged political instability — as can be seen by the fragility of the current coalition, which is already in danger of collapsing with the withdrawal of RSP, the third largest coalition partner.

Throw in the upcoming and contentious question of which party gets to nominate the president, and the Nepali people are once again left to witness blatant politicking at the expense of timely attention to economic and governance challenges.

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has warned that funding to provincial and local governments could be cut as a result of economic concerns. The entire federal system will be undermined if governments cannot deliver on services and development. Federalism was envisaged as a vehicle for economic development and if it flounders, it could have an impact on Nepal’s graduation to a lower middle-income country in 2026 based on the World Bank’s projections .

Still, the U.S. government sees Nepal as one of two places in Asia with an excellent opportunity for inclusion in the Partnership for Democratic Development. And with high-profile visits from U.S. government officials and scheduled high-profile visits from European governments on the way, there is an opportunity for the international community to urge Nepal’s government to stop politicking and start governing so that Nepal can flourish as a truly democratic nation that respects the rights of the many and not the few.     

Deborah Healy is the senior country director for Nepal at the National Democratic Institute.

Sneha Moktan is the program director for Asia-Pacific at the National Democratic Institute.

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Nepal: Contemporary Democratic Politics

Nepal’s democracy has made a distinctive identity of the Nepali version. Nepal has witnessed the experience of the second episode of democracy in the constitutional monarchy set-up from 1990 to 2007. Nepalis today are experiencing the first chapter of inclusive democracy in the infant republic declared in 2015. The result of seven decades of political trials since 1950 is not a new political issue for contemporary Nepalis. The preamble mentioned in the Seventh Constitution of Nepal 2015, the result of the ongoing political struggle, has clearly and accurately defined the past, present and future of Nepali politics in a terse chronicle. Democracy in Nepal has become achievable for the violent protests as a means of Nepali politics and the peaceful disobedience of the populist forces.

The story of politics, the consequences of pain and expectation in politics, whether or not we like it, we have no choice but to walk in the vicinity and sync of time and situation. These activities are interdependent in such political and social movements, creating many upheavals in public affairs. We can sum the political vibrations caused in the political repercussions in the political system as neither performance-oriented nor deliver solutions-based actions within the democratic templates even if there are politico-administrative praxis. The primary temporal challenge is seen on the surface. The primary reasons are the lack of strengthening of the foundations of parliamentary democracy, and the delay in the process of democratization of democracy by managing short, medium and long term political transitions.

In the present’s grammar of the Government of Nepal, maintaining a full or collective or comprehensive democracy is an inseparable concern of all. There are three areas of specialization in politics – government and state (polity), private sector (economy) and civil society (political society). The fourth pillar of political communication (media) is the positive activism of political parties and the promotion of the infrastructures of emerging politics. The role of this fourth pillar in promoting political education, political socialization and political advancement is crucial in the 21st century.

Nepali democracy is strengthened by maintaining the balance and control of the interrelationships between the three interdependent and interconnected sectors, including political proactiveness and political semantics, political-economic perspectives and practices, and the conduct of public administration. Ideological diversity and intersectional pluralism pervade political society. Efficient leadership helps bridge the gap between political thinking and performance-oriented delivery of the rhetorics. The practice of pragmatic political mastery and politico-administrative professionalism was not limited to the politics experienced in the Western political society. The time has come for Nepal not to be an exception. The above three bases of governance – thinking of political action, implementation of political ideas and adoption of public professionalism – are also the seeds of social transformation in Nepal. In political aspirations, leadership style and its culture naturally determine the intensity and extensity of political will.

In terms of economic thinking, the challenge is not only to imprison Nepal’s poor economy in the vision of prosperity or its kept tall promises. But also to turn it into realization is no less a daunting challenge. In order to achieve the goal of good governance and sustainable development of Nepal, the current cycle of coronavirus pandemic, the conflict-ridden legacy of the Nepali political economy, and the signs of negative economic growth are further disrupted and stunted. There should be full implementation of public policy in public affairs, whether they are annual policies and programs, fiscal and monetary policies.

It is equally important whether the three core public policies are backed and followed down and up in the strata of bureaucracy, government and governance in Nepal. It is essential that the basic national policy address current and future challenges. Apart from maintaining security, peace and tranquillity, the administration is not impervious to facilitate the state of flux of the state and society and to act as a catalyst for change. Politics should also be sensitive to public management bodies. Therefore, public opinion and political aspirations towards the state and the government assist bonafide citizens and assuage the public to convey positive sentiments.

Public intellectual circles have their own fundamental traditions and new political consciousness on behalf of civil society. Its concept of rational cooperation and coexistence will become more and more universally accepted. In this matter of importance, if the political parties involved in it adopt the ideological practice of mutual rationale of existentialism, in addition to a conventional and agitation role of a vigilant civic society. Civil society is circumscribed into the role of social opposition in Nepal. It can also be analyzed that the use and practice of political theory in Nepal have been misappropriated, abused or deviated if otherwise. These basic and general political problems have eroded internal and external sovereignty creating its thin layer of supreme authority in the design of popular sovereignty. Weaknesses in sovereignty have certainly not diminished some of the hopes in politics that will be resolved over time.

The first chapter of the Republic of Nepal will come to an end if the power struggles in the culture of the political leadership and tensions or anxiety continue in the incumbent leadership. The presidential system of the Executive Rule is not unlikely to be the beginning of the second chapter of the Republic of Nepal. In comparative politics, for example, French politics is in the version of the Fifth Republic after the French Revolution. Despite the failures and successes of Nepal’s political history, in a liberal democracy, all Nepali people depend on the art of doing politics as much as possible when time and tide are cruel and tough.

Nepal’s entry into federalism under this process is another stage of decentralization. The idea of ​​local-oriented self-government, which has been promised in the past or declared in political history, can be considered as the political remedy of overdue administrative affairs. In addition, the voice of inclusive democracy is characterized by respect for plurality and its spiritual acceptance and self-co-existence. It would not be an exaggeration to say that political knowledge is the vehicle of change in the form and structure of the state. In the context of changing world affairs, the end of the old, conservative and authoritarian tendencies is inevitable. The friction of equity and equality in our life world, society and national sphere can also be taken as a part and parcel of political conduct. It is time to jump from simple talk to follow the results of positive thinking in politics. Politics is considered the art of both the possible and the impossible. Because of these state activities, sophisticated and dynamic politics will become the current vernacular and reality of the new Nepal.

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