Nepal

Peace and Conflict Studies Center, 2008

Nepal is once again on the international stage. The former insurgent Communist Party of Nepal or CPN (Maoist) won an unexpected victory, both numerically and ideologically, in the CA elections on April 10, 2008, after introducing themselves with the 10-year “protracted People's War” and a 2-year long post-conflict flexible security situation and instability. The international community, following the Big House Media (BHM) propaganda that the Maoists would lose, has been astounded. The suspended King Gyanendra, who had been nonchalantly dining with generals, is now quivering. The Nepali Congress (NC), ruling for almost 18-years after the popular movement in 1990, has become a fish out of water, even though it was demanding CA polls 60 years back. Madhav Nepal, who regarded himself as the strong founder of the CPN (UML), has resigned from the post of General Secretary on the moral grounds of the party's defeat.

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.

2008

Constituent Assembly (CA) polls have been postponed two times in the past (June and November 2006), and the third attempt, scheduled for April 10, is a historic day for Nepal. As the date for CA polls approaches, the activities of the contesting parties have increased. There are clashes between the United Marxist-Leninist (UML), Nepali Congress (NC), Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), Janashakti Party, and Maoist activists in various districts. The conflict between the Maoists, including UML and the NC in Dadeldhura district, in the far-western part of Nepal, where former Prime Minister (PM) Sher Bahadur Deuba of NC is contesting, has led to curfews for some days.

Researcher: A Research Journal of Culture and Society, 2020

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.

CS Center (https://blog.com.np/2008/08/08/nepal-presidential-election-victory-of-anti-maoist-forces/comment-page-1/), 2008

The 100-day marathon of uncertainty after the April 10 Constituent Assembly (CA) election finally ended on July 21, 2008 when Dr. Ram Baran Yadav of the NC-UML-MJF alliance won the run-off with 306 (52%) out of the 590 ballots cast. The Maoist candidate Ram Raja Prasad Singh was defeated with 282 (48%) votes. On July 19, none of the presidential candidates received the majority of votes, except the Vice President Paramananda Jha. Almost all national and international forces tried their best to support the formation of a new national consensus government, prioritizing the PM for the Maoists, the ceremonial role of President for the NC, and the chairmanship of the CA for the UML.

2008

The first-ever Constituent Assembly (CA) Polls in Nepal are being held on April 10, 2008. Approximately 100 thousand international and domestic observers have registered to observe the polls. The EU and Carter Center, along with many other international bodies, have established their contact offices in Kathmandu to observe the election. People and organizations interested in Nepal are eager to know the agendas that the key political parties have for the people and the nation. In light of this, the current issue is devoted to a comparative analysis of the election manifestos of three key political parties.

New Institutional Economics eJournal, 2015

Nepal made significant progress in removing monarchy and terrors of Maoists in the last decade. It however lacks a stable solution for speedier economic growth and development as the major political parties are still struggling to institutionalize the new political framework set up by the new constitution of Nepal that was promulgated by the Constitution Assembly of Nepal (CAN-II ) for the federal democratic republic of Nepal on 20 September 2015. Nepalese economy crippled by the terrible earthquake of April 2015 got further paralyzed by the undeclared blockade from India that was afraid of separatist movements in southern Nepal. NC led government managed to conduct free and fair elections of central, provincial and local governments by the end of 2017 in which the NCP, a new allaince of communist CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist parties was able to secure the absolute majority based on radical manifesto promises relegating the NC to a weak opposition. The NCP government has however failed to...

Agreement on a new constitution has been a key objective of the Nepali peace process and a measure of progress on inclusion. The trajectory of constitution-making during the first and second Constituent Assemblies (CAs I and II) in Nepal in 2008-12 and 2013-15 has been determined by the nature of the social contract and the political compromises reached. This article traces the four main dimensions to the drafting of the constitution: context, participation, negotiation and outcome. Context The Interim Constitution of 2007 (and its various amendments) conceded that the Nepali state had been exclusionary in terms of caste, ethnicity, language, religion, region and gender. It provided directive principles for the new constitution to lay the foundations for substantive equality among Nepal's diverse social groups. This unprecedented admission by the state arose from four main events that marked a manifest change in Nepal's dispensation: 1) the Maoist insurgency (1996-2006); 2) the April 2006 popular uprising (the People's Movement); 3) the November 2006 Comprehensive Peace Accord; and 4) the postwar explosion of ethnic movements, particularly the successful Madhes uprisings of 2007 and 2008 [see article on social movements, p.97]. The April 2008 election for CA I brought a sea change in the balance of power, in favour of new political and ethnic forces. The Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M-later the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist, UCPN-M) emerged as the largest party with 238 of 601 seats. The traditional parties, the Nepali Congress (NC) and the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML), came a distant second and third, with 115 and 108 seats respectively. The four Madhes-based parties together had a substantial 87 seats.

CS Center, 2008

The unexpected results of historic Constituent Assembly (CA) elections have invigorated the CPN (Maoist), now the largest political party, on the one hand, and have enervated the former power holders, the NC in particular. Moreover, the results gave a mandate for transformation of the government from conformist-cum-centrist bourgeois democracy to socio-cultural democracy. Nepal has set a noble example of inclusion in terms of ethnicity, clan, gender, cultural and regional identities but excluding class. A full one-third (33%) of seats, between the first-past-the-post (FPTP) and the party’s close list proportional representation (PR), are held by women. Similarly, 34 percent belongs to Madhesi representatives, 33 percent to Janajatis, 8 to Dalits and34 percent to others out of 575 representatives. The ongoing discussion of the major political parties shall nominate 26 representatives from various walks of life - civil society, ethnicity, regional and cultural groups. Although the former insurgent CPN (Maoist) emerged as the largest party in the CA elections, it will be faced by a number of challenges:

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/, 2013