Politicians’ Intent Matters Quite A Lot

It is said that politics is the game of possibilities and there is no certainty in politics. Anything can happen in any moment in politics. In politics, ‘stranger become bedfellow’ anytime. Thus, politics is the most unpredictable vocation. This is more so in Nepal as coalition and governments frequently change. In recent years, political polarisation is taking place recently in Nepal especially after the fall of Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda-led government and the formation of the CPN-UML-Nepali Congress coalition government headed by KP Sharma Oli. Although Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ led the government for about 19 months, he changed coalition partners three times. 

In the beginning, he reigned the mantle of premiership with support of UML but soon changed the partner entering into coalition with Nepali Congress. Prachanda again changed the coalition gear going again back to the arm of UML. Prachanda calls his nature of often switching the political gear as his political dynamism and proudly says that he keeps on triggering ‘upheaval’. However, critics term it as Prachanda’s unreliable and opportunist nature. Prachanda ultimately lost trust of other parties and was forced out of power because of his unstable character. 

Like it or not, Prachanda has always been in the central stage of politics right after the Maoists joined peaceful politics. During the last seventeen years since the Comprehensive Peace Accord was signed between the then CPN-Maoist and government in 2006, former rebels are in one way or other in government most of the time. Prachanda alone led the government three times and his deputy Baburam Bhattarai once took the mantle of the government for about 18 months, while the Maoist party remained in the government as a junior partner many times. Now Prachanda is desperate in gaining power again by any means. 

Politics is for power and power is for delivery. In other words, parties and politicians seek power to implement their policies and ensure greater good of the people. Power is thus the principal motive of politics everywhere in the world but it is more so in Nepal. In Nepali politics, power is often seen as a means for personal gains — financial or otherwise. This might be because of our electoral malpractices. Our election is getting so expensive that political parties or politicians cannot dare contest the election without money. Thus, they do everything to go to power and misuse power for partisan and personal gains. As a result, corruption has become rampant in the country.

While elections are becoming expensive, our electoral system is also responsible for political instability and frequent change of government. Our electoral system is a mixed bag of first-past-the-post (FPTP) and proportional system, due to which no single party is likely to get majority to form the government. It compels the parties to forge alliances and form coalition government. As a result, fringe parties often bargain and blackmail the bigger and mainstream political parties. The role of the fringe parties turns out to be key in the formation of the government. Being the third largest party, Maoist party took benefit from this situation. 

Perhaps learning lessons, the first and second largest parties — Nepali Congress and the UML— joined hands in the formation of the government which has been led by Oli. Critics are of the view that in a parliamentary democracy, the government of the largest and second largest parties is not a healthy practice. According to them, when the two largest parties form the government, opposition voice can be weak in parliament, which is against the spirit of parliamentary democracy. They may be right to some extent but this is not always the case. There are instances in the world where the two largest parties have formed the government. 

Even in Nepal, during the time of political crisis, all parties have joined hands together in tackling the political crisis. Soon after the restoration of democracy in 1990, all parties formed an interim coalition government, headed by NC leader Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, which facilitated the writing of new constitution and holding the general election. Similarly, different parties joined hands that successfully held the first Constituent Assembly election. Similarly, major parties jointly worked and cooperated to facilitate the promulgation of the present constitution in 2015. At a time of every crisis, political parties are always in one place. 

The two largest parties have almost two-thirds majority in parliament which enables them to amend the constitution. One of the key agenda based on which this coalition government was formed is the amendment of the constitution. Nepali Congress and UML seem to have agreed on amending the constitution seeking to change the electoral system. However, it is not clear what exactly these two parties want in the amendments. It has been nine years since the present constitution was promulgated. The constitution itself has stated that it can be reviewed and amended in ten years. Thus, time has come to review and revisit the constitution based on the experiences and experiments of past nine years. 

Political culture

The proportional system is being blamed for the political instability and frequent change of government. However, it is not the electoral system but the intent and behaviour of the political leaders that are the prime contributors to political instability. Both the electoral systems are at work in different countries but they have worked well. Many European countries including Nordic states have proportionate electoral system. But they have perfect political stability and these countries have achieved high level of development. 

The key element for political stability, democratic development is the political culture and good intention of politicians. Power hungry nature of politicians and their evil intent of misusing power for personal and partisan benefits is the principal culprit in Nepali politics. What needs now is the change in the thinking, action and behaviour on the part of our politicians focussing on delivery and greater good of the people. This will alone instil greater hope and optimism in the people.

(The author is former editor of this daily and former ambassador to Denmark). lamsalyubanath@gmail.com)