NEPAL: Could Become World’s First Communist Monarchy (1) An Inter Press Service Analysis

By Kunda Dixit Reprint | | Print |

Kunda Dixit

KATHMANDU, Nov 18 1994 (IPS) - In the next week or so, Nepal’s king Birendra could be swearing in a communist prime minister.

If that happens it will be the first time anywhere that a communist party has won a free multi-party national election and this Himalayan kingdom sandwiched between India and China could be the world’s only communist monarchy.

Present trends in the vote counting from Nepal’s Nov. 15 show the communists may just be able to manage the necessary number of seats to form the next government.

The communist party of Nepal United Marxist-Leninist (UML) is an alliance of left parties whose candidates have so far won 75 out of the 155 results announced in the elections for the 205 seat lower house, the Pratinidhi Sabha.

The phenomenal rise to power of the Communist party in Nepal at a time when it has become extinct just about everywhere else has important lessons for movements elsewhere.

Never colonised, Nepal was ruled by feudal oligarchs and opened up to the outside world only in the 1950’s. Its first experiment with parliamentary democracy collapsed when King Birendra’s father, Mahendra, dissolved parliament, banned parties and threw elected leaders to jail in 1960.

It was 30 years later that a popular uprising forced King Birendra to legalise parties again and hold multiparty elections. In the process, Birendra lost his absolute powers and became a constitutional monarch.

In the 1991 elections, the Nepali Congress managed to win 114 of the 205 seats, while the UML had a strong showing with 68. Infighting within the Nepali congress and a split engineered by 36 dissidents forced Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala in July to call for snap polls 18 months ahead of schedule.

On Friday, Koirala’s Nepali Congress Party was trailing with only 55 of the seats. The conservative National Democracy Party (RPP) has got 15 seats, four candidates of the Maoist Nepal Workers and Peasant’s Party (NWPS) have won while independents make up five seats.

Although the electoral arithmetic could still be upset by some last minute Nepali Congress surge, most analysis here agree that the UML is headed for victory. The final results will not be known till the week-end when results of re-polling in some 39 constituencies where voting have been postponed.