Triumph of Democracy in Nepal

Triumph of Democracy in Nepal

-Khimlal Devkota

In 2017, Nepal conducted three elections viz. national, provincial, and local elections as per its new Constitution promulgated in 2015; this new Constitution of Nepal— one of the youngest Constitutions in the world – had been declared as part of Nepal’s peace process that ended the ten-year armed conflict trigged by the Maoist party of Nepal.

These elections have established 40 percent representation of women at the local level and 33 percent representation of women at the provincial and national levels – pushing Nepal into the top position in South Asia in terms of women’s representation in the legislative assemblies. Many other previously marginalized and underrepresented groups have been also elected in both the national/provincial parliaments facilitated through the quotas in the proportional race of the mixed election system.

Clearly, today Nepal stands as the most remarkable example of inclusive democracy not only among the least developed countries in the world but also among the other countries in its a region which includes countries like India and China representing a large share of the global population.

This article traces the political journey that has made it possible for Nepal……democracy

Why the Maoists started the armed revolution Nepal?

As liberal democracy was proliferating around the world in the post-Cold War phase, in 1996 the Maoist party of Nepal – of which I was a member– decided to start a protracted armed war calling for radical socio-economic and political transformations in Nepal. This armed movement not only posed questions to the triumph of the liberal democratic order as widely propagated during that time but also directly challenged the newly gained multiparty democracy that had been restored in Nepal in 1990.

When the Maoist the party started the armed rebellion, there were concerns among many countries around the world particularly among the western countries that were mainly leading the liberal democratic order. Their concerns were perhaps specifically because of the recent experiences of genocide caused by the Maoist regimes in Cambodia or maybe even in China during Mao’s period and more generally because of its implications on the overall liberal democratic order. These concerns were shared by a few elite sections of the Nepalese people as well who had important stakes in maintaining the existing order in Nepal. To understand if these concerns were well-founded or not in the context of the Maoists in Nepal, it may be necessary to explain the context of the Maoist’s protracted armed rebellion in Nepal.

Nepal’s history compared to other countries has been relatively peaceful. There had been a few armed political struggles in the past but no organized large-scale armed movement. In Nepal, unlike in other countries including in its immediate neighbor India, various diverse communities have always peacefully co-existed with each other and the Nepalese people generally are averse to violence. This can be attributed largely to the peace-loving culture of the Nepalese people.

It could be perhaps because of the remote mountainous terrain occupying large parts of Nepal’s geography which entails that the communities irrespective of their differences need to support each other to survive and to thrive. No wonder, despite the enormous diversity of around 103 ethnic groups speaking over 100 languages, the Nepalese people have lived peacefully and harmoniously throughout history; there’s hardly any mention of any serious communal tensions or violence in Nepal’s modern history. This peaceful aspect of Nepalese society has been always cherished and valued by most Nepalese people.

We were part of the same society that cherished peace and took pride in being a peaceful society. Yet, at that point, we were compelled to resort to arms due to the prevailing socio-economic and political conditions of Nepal. When multiparty democracy was restored in 1990, it had offered great hopes to the people. However, within a few years, it was clear that as long as the feudal structure led by the King remained intact, multiparty democracy would not bring any changes in the lives of the people that were so desperately needed in Nepal.

The Constitution promulgated in 1990 was the result of a compromise between the King and the parliamentary parties; the King still retained enormous real powers. The Nepal Army – the most powerful military force in the country was fully under the control of The king who was its supreme commander. Traditional religious values even those regressive ones such as caste hierarchy or subordination of women were difficult to be challenged because the King was the protector of the most religious institutions preserving these values. The palace and a handful of elites close to the palace continued to control most economic resources of the country. In effect, Nepal’s elected governments had little real power or influence to change the traditional order structurally maintained by the institution of monarchy.

In this setting, educated youths like me were convinced that as long as the feudal structures represented by the King were not fully destroyed, radical socio-economic transformations of the Nepalese people were not possible. Given that the King was protected by one of the most professional military forces in the world – the Nepal Army, we needed an organized military power to fight that force to defeat the powerfully maintained feudal structures in Nepal. So, these considerations pushed us to start an armed rebellion in Nepal in 1996. Our main demand was essentially democratic – it was an election to the Constituent Assembly to draft the new Constitution of Nepal.

The success of the Maoist Movement

Initially, the armed rebellion was started by a few young educated and motivated youths like me who were sick of the stagnancy of the Nepalese society. For over 200 years since King Prithivi Narayan Shah consolidated the physical boundaries of the modern state of Nepal, things had remained almost the same in Nepal. Few reforms that took place were inadequate to meet the challenges of the new 21^st century modern world. Even during the end of the millennium, the Nepalese people worshipped the king as the incarnation of god [avatar of Vishnu]. Untouchability was practiced in large parts of the country. Many marginalized groups mainly women were tortured and were killed based on many superstitious practices. Human slavery still existed. In short, many existing practices and values of Nepal at that time still represented the old traditional times. We wanted to change Nepal according to the demands of modern times, we wanted to create a modern Nepal is not out of place in the 21^st century but in sync with it.

Soon, the movement was joined by ordinary youths around the country mostly from the villages who had felt left out in the prevailing development order. What was remarkable about this movement was that a large section of women had also participated comprising over 40 percent representation in the party structures. Other marginalized groups such as Dalits formed our core support base.

The severe repression from the state including killings of the innocent people in the villages where the Maoists were actively led to more dissatisfaction against the regime and more supporters for our movement. By early 2000, our movement had spread around most of the rural parts of Nepal and could be easily considered as one of the most popular movements in Nepal (which would later be proved in the elections as well).

Of course, armed movements inevitably have dark and ugly sides as well. Many young men and women died in the movement; many more were imprisoned, disappeared, injured, and rendered disabled. Their only fault was to dream for a better Nepal. What was most painful was that many youths who died possessed irreplaceable skills and talents that would have been used to take the country to a greater height. On the other side, many committed public servants mainly from the security forces also died. That’s why it did not take time for the Maoist leadership to decide to go for the peace negotiations. Unlike most armed groups around the world, the Maoists in Nepal had formally agreed to the peace negotiations in 2001, merely five years after the start of the movement.

The peace negotiations in 2001 and 2003 were unsuccessful. The parliamentary parties leading the government at that time did not agree to hold an election to the Constituent Assembly – the core demand of the Maoist party because they claimed it was outside the framework of the existing Constitution. They also could not negotiate on our other core demand of a republic, again citing that it was outside the existing constitutional framework.

Despite the failure of these peace talks, the Maoist party decided to continue dialogues with the relevant party and explore for the peace. The Maoist party established contact with many international organizations and groups including the United Nations requesting them to facilitate the end of the armed violence in Nepal.

The New Peace Process

In February 2005, in an unexpected turn of events, King Gyanendra dismissed the democratically elected government through the backing of the Army and took over all the executive powers of the country. He proclaimed that this was necessary to end the ongoing Maoists’ violence. Many leaders of the parliamentary parties were imprisoned and civil/political rights were suspended. The emergency was declared in the country. Anti-Terrorist and destructive act was indiscriminately implemented.

Following this a takeover, major parliamentary parties got together to form an alliance known as the Seven Party Alliance. The SPA decided to launch agitations against the King demanding to restore multiparty democracy. Accordingly, a series of agitations were organized mainly in the capital city.

Unlike the situation in the early 1990s, when parliamentary parties had organized the People’s Movement to end the King’s authoritarian regime and to restore multiparty democracy and got successful, the situation in 2005 had changed. People from most of the rural parts of Nepal had become the Maoists’ supporters and without their support, the democratic movement would not be successful. This practical compulsion pushed the SPA [seven party’s alliance] to partner with the Maoist party to overthrow the authoritarian royal regime and restore multiparty democracy.

By this time, there was a growing agreement inside the Maoist party that multiparty competition is inevitable and perhaps necessary for progress that we wanted to achieve. This came from the broader analysis of the communist regimes around the world; many leaders like me in the Maoist party concluded that one of the major reasons for the failure of the most communist regimes around the world was their inability to embrace the multiparty competition that is the probably best means to ensure the representation of the popular will in the government. Given this party’s position, the Maoist party was able to assure the parliamentary parties about its commitment to the multiparty competition before they decided to partner together on the democratic movement

Therefore, multiparty competition can be considered the main basis on which the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and the Maoist party signed a formal peace agreement in November 2005 known as the 12-Point Peace Understanding. Through this Understanding, the Maoist party committed to end the ongoing armed protracted war in return of the parliamentary parties’ commitment to the elections to the Constituent Assembly to draft the new Constitution of Nepal. The SPA and the Maoist party together decided to organize the People’s Movement to overthrow the authoritarian regime. Perhaps, it must be the first time in the global democratic history when the parliamentary parties collaborated with a Maoist party to defend democracy in Nepal.

The partnership was successful in organizing a massive People’s Movement in Nepal in April 2006 which saw thousands of ordinary people in the streets all over Nepal in demonstration against the King Gyanendra’s regime. Finally, after around 20 days of continued protest, the King relinquished power and the parliament dissolved earlier was restored. The new parliament unanimously decided to conduct the elections to the Constituent Assembly to draft the new Constitution of Nepal.

The Constituent Assembly Elections and the new Constitution

In mid-2006, we started the process of drafting the Interim Constitution that would be the main legislative framework for the planned Constituent Assembly. I was part of the drafting team and had played a leading role to incorporate many progressive provisions in the interim Constitution. For examples, Nepalese women got the right to pass citizenship to their children for the first time through this Constitution.

We also agreed for a mixed election system with both FPTP and Proportional races; in the proportional system each major group of Nepal including women would get seats in the Parliament according to the proportion of their population; this means women got around 50 percent of seats in the proportional race as per the share of their population. Overall, around 33 percent of women’s representation was guaranteed in the Parliament, which would be a huge surge from less than five percent in the last parliament. Madhesis – ethnic group dominant in the southern part of Nepal who were treated as second class citizens were also guaranteed seats according to their share of population in the Parliament. Dalits, indigenous groups and geographically background regions also got their representation guaranteed according to their population in the proportional system. In short, the Maoist party had really worked hard during the interim Constitution drafting process to ensure that the new Constituent Assembly would reflect the diversity of Nepal as far as possible and the Assembly would have voices mainly of the previously marginalized groups in Nepal.

As per the interim Constitution, the elections to the first Constituent Assembly was finally held in April 2008 after a few postponements. Till the last day of the elections, many including the international community doubted the Maoists’ intention to participate in the elections even though the party had been displaying its sincere commitment to both the elections and the peace process since the signing of the new peace process.

The election results came as a shock to many political analysts particularly to the international community because they had expected that the Maoists would come as a distant third party. These analysts had assumed that the Maoist support was only due to the fear of violence and in the elections monitored by the UN agency and many other international missions, support for the Maoist would be fairly low.

What they did not understand was that for ten years, we were the only party that was close to the people that engaged with the people in large parts of the country. The Maoist party had also successfully engaged with the most of the alienated and marginalized sections of the Nepalese population and they voted for the Maoist party. More importantly, the Maoist party offered the hope for change to the Nepalese people who desperately wanted the change. That’s why we got an overwhelming favor from the Nepalese people.

The new Constituent Assembly was the most diverse parliament ever elected in the whole of the South Asian region. Marginalized groups such as women, Madhesi, Dalits were elected in huge numbers compared to the past. Equally importantly, many grass-roots leaders from the rural parts of Nepal who had been till then neglected by the center got elected in the National Assembly. In many ways, it’s a true revolution through ballot. The Maoist party’s revised strategy of adhering to the democratic means for a drastic revolution of the Nepalese society had worked and worked well.

The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly declared the abolition of monarchy. Nepal became a democratic republic – the youngest republic in the world. The Maoists had achieved its core demands – the elected Assembly to draft the new Constitution, republic, and an inclusive Parliament.

What followed after the declaration of a republic was a series of continuous negotiations for the new Constitution. While agreements on most issues were reached, the major political parties could not agree on three crucial issues relating to the restructuring of the state, forms of governance and the election system. The other two major parties did not want too drastic changes in all those issues like the Maoist party.

Meanwhile, the army and arms of the Maoist party in Nepal was settled in November 2011 as per the [CPA] comprehensive peace agreement and AMAA [agreement on monitoring of arms and ammunitions]. After that the Maoist party in Nepal became like any other ordinary party of Nepal.  The Maoist party had to rely on the support from the ordinary   Nepalese people for maintaining its strength and influence. This process caused a few splits inside the Maoist party. A section of the hardliner Maoist party was dissatisfied with the settlement and splintered into a new party.

As internal rife increased inside the Maoist party, it became increasingly difficult to focus finalizing the new Constitution. The Maoist party had to tread carefully, it could not be seen as relinquishing crucial agendas for which it had fought the armed war. Now, that the Maoist party had formally settled arms/armies, the other parties were also rigid on their position and unwilling to make compromises. As a result, agreements on the new Constitution could not be reached despite repeated postponements. In May 2012, the Constituent Assembly elected in April 2008 was dissolved by a court order without finalizing the new Constitution.

The Constituent Assembly elections were held yet again in November 2013. This Assembly owned all the agreed decisions made by the first Assembly and decided to focus on sorting out the differences only on the contentious issues. Finally, after several negotiations, the new Constitution was finalized and promulgated on 20 September 2015.

The Maoist party had played a crucial role in making this possible by compromising as far as possible on many of its agendas. For example, the Maoist party agreed for the parliamentary system with the prime minister as the head of the government even though the party was for a directly elected presidential system, give up the idea of constitutional court and fully single constituency election system. One of the major parties – the Nepali Congress was adamant on not agreeing for the presidential system. So, the Maoist compromised its position for the sake of declaring the new Constitution of Nepal through an elected body. The role Maoist party played in declaring the new Constitution is a testament to its commitment to multiparty democracy and peace.

The New Elections

The new Constitution of Nepal has institutionalized the multiparty democratic system and also created structures for maintaining peace. Principles for multiparty democracy have been guaranteed in the Preamble itself.  Social equality which is the bedrock for peace such as gender equality and representation of diverse groups based on their share of population is also the part of the Preamble. The Army is under the control of a democratically elected executive and titular head of President. Nepal has been also declared a secular state in the new Constitution which ensures that the state is not favorable towards any religion. Federalism has been introduced and Nepal will now have seven provinces which have been carved out on the basis of social identity and feasibility. In short, it can be concluded that the new Constitution has laid the foundation for full democracy, not partial democracy like in the 1990s. And this has been possible due to the Maoists’ Movement in Nepal.

During the declaration of the new Constitution, the Madhesi parties were not satisfied with a few provisions related to federalism. So, they had boycotted the constitution declaration process and started a series of agitations against the government demanding for the constitutional amendments. This situation raised concerns relating to the implementation of the new Constitution. According to the new Constitution, elections of the all three levels – national, provincial, and local needed to be held by February 2018. And it was challenging to hold these elections without the participation of the Madhesi parties.

In 2017, the Maoist-led government held talks with the dissatisfied Madhesi groups and made it possible to hold the local elections after a gap of nearly 20 years. The local elections had guaranteed 40 percent representation of women and the provision which required that either mayor or deputy mayor needed to be a woman. Seats at the local council were also reserved for Dalits. These local elections after 20 years has ushered a new energy throughout Nepal.

In November 2017, the Nepali Congress-led government in coalition with the Maoist party conducted elections both at the national and provincial levels. These elections were participated by all the broader political forces in the country. Most election observation missions have reported that the elections were very peaceful.

Before the elections, there was an alliance of the Maoist party with the second-largest party in the Parliament –Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) known as the Leftist Alliance. The Alliance that saw two main leftist parties collaborating together was so effective and popular that the leaders of both the parties also decided for the party unification after the elections.

Following the elections, the Leftist Alliance secured an overwhelming majority. Out of 275 seats, the Leftist Alliance won 180 seats; the CPN-UML won 121 seats and the Maoist party won 63 seats. Out of the seven province, the Leftist Alliance won in six provinces, only in the Province 2, the alliance of two Madhesi-based parties got a majority. As per the results, the new government has been formed. The UML leader KP Oli has become the prime minister supported by the Maoist party. In all the six provinces, the Leftist Alliance has formed the government.  Two provinces are led by the chief ministers from the Maoist party.

The Maoist party’s decision to be part of the Leftist Alliance proves that the Maoist party of Nepal is a dynamic party which has shown great respect for the democratic principles.  In the new political context marked by the conclusion of the peace process, the Maoist party wanted to transform itself into a truly democratic party by agreeing to merge with the party that has the history of fighting the parliamentary elections and also has the most vibrant internal democracy among the political parties of Nepal. Therefore, overall the whole process of finalizing the new Constitution and the elections in Nepal can be considered as the triumph of multiparty democracy in Nepal against feudal/authoritarian forces.

The Current Challenges

One of the main platforms of the Leftist Alliance was a stable government and economic development. Quickly changing unstable governments were identified as one of the main reasons for Nepal’s slow developmental progress. So, when the Leftist Alliance offered the hope for a stable government, the Nepalese people showed an overwhelming support. Now, the challenge is to maintain the collaboration between the UML and the Maoist parties or to complete the unification process between the two parties so that the newly formed government is stable for five years and can focus on developmental agendas.

The second challenge is to ensure that the existing framework of the social inclusion of the diverse groups continue to satisfy the aspirations of the profoundly diverse groups in Nepal. The Madhesi groups are still demanding for the amendments to the new Constitution. Such demands need to be adequately addressed so that there are no deep-rooted resentment later.

The third challenge is to implement the constitution. A new federal democratic republican constitution is in place, new elections have been done, but yet to set up offices and working culture accordingly. Almost institutions are used to old unitary mind-set. Federal constitution implementation with unitary mindset is really challenging.

The fourth challenge is to bring in the board to the opposition, Nepali Congress party, which has been ruling the government since 1950 to 1960 and 1990 to 2017. Such an oldest party is in opposition with board support of so-called civil society and international communities, just because of non-communist. The ruling by communist coalition is hard to accept to non-communist regime. Madhes based parties are also physically not in government except province no 2. The southern neighbor is not happy with the new constitution so the contentious issue has not been over. Without the cooperation of opposition and close neighbor and international communities, it is hard to implementation of the constitution.

The fifth challenge is to make a proper balance between northern and southern neighbors in first hand and equally need to maintain proper balance with the UN and US and European countries. Except china all are from non- communist world. In the 21^st century, the democratically elected communist government is in place is a hard fact, but it is not good news for the non-communist world. Thus to maintain proper balance with the non-communist world and obtain support and confidence from that part of the world is another challenge.

The sixth challenge is to fulfill commitment. Until now political priority was to achieve democracy. All the blame goes to the royalties for all dark episodes. But now there is no room for excuse. Commitments have been done a lot, now time to fulfill. If again fail to fulfill their commitment then implication would be a catastrophic. Peoples are eagerly waiting for resolution of unemployment, underdevelopment, and corruption which had reputedly ensured during the time of the election. Now it is time to really real implementation which is a huge challenge of the government.

The seventh challenge is to change the working culture of government institutions, political parties, and peoples. By changing best constitution and having the best government in place is not sufficient if the working culture remaining the same seems does not make any difference. To change bad habits and culture own self and others at a time is a highly challenging job which has to tackle by this government for progress and success.

After long period of time overwhelming majority government in place is a huge opportunity for the left alliance government and huge fortune for the people who were suffering from an unstable government. With huge opportunities, the government has numerous challenges mentioned above though if government success turns the challenges into opportunities that could be great. If the government fails to grasps the opportunities then opportunities it turn into challenges. Let’s hope the government will be the success to face the challenges and grasp the opportunities then both challenges and opportunities will be the bright future of the people at the large countries of Nepal and society as a whole.