It now appears that the political deadlock will end soon with constitutional measures being taken by the government in the legislature parliament (LP) in accordance with the 23-point agreement signed by the seven party alliance for amendment of the constitution, which will, in turn, pave the way for constituent assembly (CA) election scheduled for mid-April 2008.

The political imbroglio has persisted for several months with the CA election being deferred by the SPA to save the alliance’s unity when it started to fall apart on two issues: declaration of republic by the Legislative Parliament (LP) and adoption of proportional representation as the electoral system for Constituent Assembly polls in place of Mixed electoral system already

accepted in the interim constitution (IC). There had been hectic political efforts in recent days to arrive at the consensus that would suit all sides.

Ironically, a recent majority decision in the LP, excluding the Nepali Congress, had

confounded the confused political necessity that required two-thirds majority to amend the constitution to proceed in the matter.

Interestingly, it would not have been possible without the support of all major

parties. Early this week, an NGO that keeps tabs on election-time funding of foreign donors held an interaction programme on “political transition and Constituent Assembly election”. Some of the participants were impatient about the delay in holding Constituent Assembly polls and demanded early election as if the sky would fall if election were not held by mid-April 2008.

There could hardly have been any distinction between a politician eager to grab power and a civil society member whose main concern was raising his voice against any delay at the political change the whole country is waiting for. They were apprehensive of some mischief by the royalist forces or the vulnerability of their leaders who are prone to bowing down to foreign pressure in the conduct of election, thereby jeopardising the fragile peace process.

Literally, transition means the process or a period of change from one state or condition to another. In Nepal, the political transition does not stand only for a change in political process but also in the political condition of the country. The political transition is not as simple as it sounds. It is multi-faceted and unusually long. It includes the transition from the culture of bullet to the culture of ballot, from absolute monarchy to democracy and from unitary state system to a federal state structure.

All three kinds of transition are interdependent.The Maoists resorted to armed struggle to bring about political change in the country. It is a well-known fact that around 14,000 people lost their lives, thousands were displaced and countless wounded or tortured during the insurgency period.

Ultimately, the Maoists decided to join hands with the mainstream political parties to bring about Jana Andolan II that finally ended in the fall of monarchy and restoration of people’s sovereignty. The Maoists had decided to participate in ballot-politics. Of course, this has been a difficult task for them as their combatants were trained for warfare, not peaceful politics.

The second transition is from autocratic monarchy to republican democracy.

People have been waiting for this change since 1950 when an armed struggle was started by the Nepali Congress or even during 1940s when demands were made of the government by politically aware people of Kathmandu.

There have been many political exercises in the past to democratise monarchy

by drafting a constitution with the provision for a constitutional monarch. But all such past efforts have failed. And the sea-saw game continued to dominate politics, the King having the upper hand over political leaders as well as common people. The time is now ripe for this epochal transformation.

Thirdly, and more importantly, the state is anxiously waiting for a structural transformation. Apart from the ups and downs in politics, including the people’s movement in 1990 and restoration of multiparty system, three parliamentary elections have been held but the fate of marginalised groups like indigenous communities, Madhesis, Dalits and Women could not been changed. They continued to be discriminated against even during the democratic era with the ruling elites never recognising their genuine rights.

This transition appears so much longer as compared to the second option. People from disparate regions across the country have run out of patience. They are demanding that their just demands be met as early as possible. Of course, the government has to negotiate on these issues with the concerned groups with firm commitment that they will no longer be left behind in the future course of events. Only after achieving this goal will the real (and prolonged) transition be over.

Prof Mishra is ex-election commissioner