Nepal on edge ahead of polls

National elections – already twice delayed – are scheduled for April. The interim government voted to abolish the monarchy, meeting a key demand of former Maoist rebels.

By Mian Ridge | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

from the January 16, 2008 edition

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Kathmandu, Nepal - A month after Nepal decided to abolish its monarchy, the country's democratic future is far from secure.

Last month, Nepal's interim government voted to scrap the world's only Hindu monarchy and transform Nepal into a "federal democratic republican state." Though the monarchy will not officially be finished until an elected government is in place, that government will not have the power to reinstate the king.

Analysts say the move constitutes a historic step for Nepal, one of the world's poorest countries. The vote has brought the Maoists – the communist former rebels who waged a decade-long insurgency that killed 13,000 – back into the government. And it has allowed Nepal to schedule key national elections – already twice delayed – for April 10.

But the absence of a fully functioning government is taking a toll. The government has failed to fulfill several commitments, from giving assistance to the victims of the war to sorting out the Maoists' demand that their cadres be integrated into the Army. And in recent months, violence has flared in spots. In the southern plains area known as the Terai, home to more than half of Nepal's 26.4 million people, some 130 people have been killed in protests over the past year. On Monday, at least eight people were injured in a bomb explosion in the center of Kathmandu, where thousands had attended a mass rally at the start of campaigning for the elections.

Generally, Nepalis appear to be anticipating the polls, the country's first in nine years. But some analysts have expressed concern about potential disruption of the vote in the Terai, as well as the possibility of a third delay in voting nationally.

"Elections have to happen – they are the only glue and balm for Nepal," says Kanak Dixit, editor of Himal, a leading magazine. "If we don't make it to elections, the Maoists will become unstable; people in the Terai will agitate. There will be a danger of intercommunal clashes and anarchy."

Nepal's interim government was established in 2006 by the Maoists and Nepal's main political parties after they orchestrated a popular uprising against King Gyanendra and signed a peace agreement. But in September, the Maoists withdrew over their demand that the monarchy be abolished immediately. A crisis ensued, and elections slated for November were canceled.

"Abolishing the monarchy was essential face-saving for the Maoists," says Mr. Dixit. Many politicians who voted to abolish the monarchy had supported it, he says. "But it got the peace process back on track."

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