20131113

NEPAL

After 30 years of absolute monarch rule (party-less political system), the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal held its first democratically multi-party elections in April 1991. Krishna Prasad Bhattarai made the observation in 1990, "This means there shall never again be one man rule in the country. It is a point enough for all of us to rejoice...The forces of pro-democracy changes in Eastern Europe may have had their positive impact on Nepal." King Birendra rose to power in 1972 announced in 1990, "…The constitution will help to forge the people in a bond of unity and advance the cause of multi-party democracy in constitutional monarchy." 

In 2006, King Gyanendra told the people, "Constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy have already started and people are actively participating in the election. The elections are the only means to guarantee people's rights consolidate democracy...Foreign policy is being guided by national interest and mutual benefit, and Nepal wants friendly relations with all the countries, including India and China." 

Prachanda was asked in 2008, "What kind of political system do you envisage for Nepal?" He made known, "I think this is a very important question. The system we are talking about - a federal system, of restructuring the whole state and having inclusiveness - the thinking behind this is that we are fully aware of the problems with the theory of formal democracy and parliamentary system in which the majority is in government and the minority is in opposition. This tradition of formal democracy does not address the aspirations of the people and Nepal should not fall into the trap of this kind of formal democracy. So though we are committed to multi-party competition and democracy, this does not mean parliamentary democracy is the only system."

Prachanda also observed, "There is a formal democracy, in which parties spend money, there is corruption, and people are never empowered. We want Nepal to escape from this trap and have effective democracy. This is the change we want - side by side with the struggle against feudalism, a real democracy which can address people's aspirations and build in the control, supervision and intervention of the masses over the state…We have to now seriously look at what kind of democracy we are going to have – a formal, parliamentary system or an effective, empowering one. Multi-party does not mean it has to be parliamentary in the traditional way." 


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