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 21st
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 21st 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 21st 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.
