(The following article is from the June 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Kimball Cariou

Politics in Nepal took an unusual twist last month, with the May 4 resignation of Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ("Prachanda"), elected last year when his party finished first in voting for the Constituent Assembly. On May 23, the C.A. picked his replacement - Madhav Kumar Nepal, a veteran leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist). The new Prime Minister was backed by 22 out of the 25 parties represented in the Assembly, and the support of 359 out of 601 C.A. members.

     Prachanda's resignation was precipitated by a dispute over the process of integrating former Maoist rebels into the regular army. Having fought a bitter civil war prior to the political settlement which paved the way for the country's return to democracy, the two military forces remain suspicious of each other.

     Similar difficulties affected the workings of Nepal's first post-monarchy government. The May 2008 election saw the Maoists win 30% of the vote and 229 seats, followed by the right-wing Nepali Congress (22%, 115 seats), then the CPN(UML), with 21% and 108 seats. The Madhesi People's Rights Forum, one of several parties based among the "madhesi" people who have long faced discrimination in Nepal, won 6% of the vote and 54 seats. Months of intense negotiations resulted in a power-sharing government which included Prachanda and nine CPN(M) cabinet ministers, along with six for the CPN(UML), four for the MPRF, and four more for smaller parties.

     But by all accounts, this new coalition was fragile, with sharp differences over immediate issues overshadowing the goal of socialism shared by the two major Communist parties. The process of democratic transformation was also hindered by repeated accusations that members of the youth group affiliated to the Maoists were responsible for attacks and even killings of political rivals. These problems were accentuated by P.M. Prachanda in a television interview in which he projected a strategic line that his party would succeed in taking over the armed forces and consolidating power. Prachanda openly predicted that within a few elections, the Maoists would win virtually universal support among the people, rendering other parties irrelevant.

     Meanwhile, the official Nepalese armed forces displayed reluctance to absorb former Maoist fighters, who are to be given a choice between joining the army or accepting compensation. This issue led Prachanda to attempt to fire Chief of Army Staff Rookmangud Katawal without the support of the other coalition parties. When President Ram Baran Yadav blocked this move, Prachanda turned in his resignation, blaming "foreign powers" for their role in Nepal. In the geopolitical framework of Nepal's politics, this was a clear reference to India.

     Speaking to journalists after being elected, Madhav Kumar Nepal said his government would "continue its journey of consensus to fulfil its responsibilities."

     Born in Gaur, Rautahat district, the 56-year old M.K. Nepal holds a degree from Tribhuvan University. He joined the communist movement as a teenager, and was detained under the Treason Act in 1976 and imprisoned for two years. During the 1980s he played a key role in democracy movements, and was the CPN(UML)'s general secretary for 15 years until his personal defeat in the 2008 elections. In 1994, he held the posts of Defence and Foreign Affairs in a CPN(UML) government which lasted ten months. He made significant contributions to ending the civil war, helping to bring the Maoists into mainstream politics, including his work on the 12-point agreement between the Seven-Party democratic alliance and the Maoists in 2005. He heads the Constitutional Committee which has the task of drafting a new constitution by 2010.