Nepal is preparing to vote on Thursday in a pivotal general election to move away from political instability months after historic protests that led to the resignation of the government.
Nepal has been struggling with political instability for decades, with 32 governments taking office since 1990, none seeing a five-year term to completion.
Constitutional Monarchy
Nepal has a long history of being ruled by various dynasties up until 1951, when a parliamentary democracy was established.
Only a decade later, King Mahendra suspended the constitution and banned political parties. His son, King Birendra, retained full control of the country until 1990, when the absolute monarchy transitioned to a constitutional one.
In the 1991 and 1999 elections, the centrist Nepali Congress, the country’s oldest political party, won a clear majority- the requirement to form the government, but failed to last a full term either time due to internal and inter-party conflicts.
This was followed by a period of political instability. King Birendra and eight other royals were massacred by his son, Crown Prince Dipendra, in 2001, who turned the gun on himself afterwards, according to an official inquiry.
Tired of fickle politicians and the looming threat of Maoist insurgency, King Birendra’s successor, Gyanendra, took power in 2005, only to be overthrown a year later following street protests against his actions.
The Nepali Congress then headed a national unity government in 2006, which lasted two years.
Post-Monarchy Volatility
In 2008, a special assembly largely comprising former Maoist rebels, who joined mainstream politics under a peace deal, voted to abolish the 239-year-old monarchy.
The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) faction came into office, but an abrupt shift to a republic failed to create political stability.
Since then, fifteen changes have taken place in government, as power circulated between the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) and the Nepali Congress.
In 2015, a new constitution was introduced after two constituent assemblies worked on the document for over seven years. This, too, proved inadequate to maintain durable administrations.
Youth Uprising
The rife political instability led to widespread public apathy and reinforced the popular perception that Nepal’s corrupt political class cared little for the plight of ordinary citizens, among the poorest in the world.
This led to simmering anti-corruption sentiments in online spaces, which turned into massive youth-led protests that forced the government under Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) to resign.
Former Chief Justice Shushila Karki has been holding the office as interim leader and has been tasked to oversee the upcoming election.
(With inputs from Reuters)
