Opinion - Editorials

A monarch's desperate acts

It is impossible to see the Dussera promise by Nepal's King Gyanendra of parliamentary elections in 2007, and his earlier announcement of country-wide municipal elections next year as genuine moves to restore democracy, considering he has simultaneously imposed crippling restrictions on an already muzzled media. The new ordinance, banning the publication of anything that is "against the nation or national interest" and threatening violators with heavy fines and possible imprisonment, is a blatant attempt at intimidation of journalists. Clearly, this is a King trapped by his own actions, now thrashing around desperately to regain legitimacy to overcome the country's political crisis created by his February 1 royal takeover. The monarch had evidently calculated on the protests fizzling out quickly and the country settling down under his thumb. Instead, the opposite has happened. After an initial paralysis following the King's dismissal of the Sher Bahadur Deuba Government and his assumption of executive powers, the country's seven political parties buried their differences for the restoration of democracy. Worse for the King, this seven-party alliance even looks like it may team up with the Maoists against him. The two biggest parties in the country, the Nepal Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal(United Marxist Leninist), which had so far sworn by the twin-pillar formula of constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy, have changed their position, moving closer to a republican form of government. While the NC has dropped its long-standing commitment to a constitutional monarchy from its party constitution, the UML, like the Maoists, wants elections to a constituent assembly that can frame a new Constitution.

Additionally, King Gyanendra is diplomatically isolated, with the international community steadfastly unforgiving of the royal coup. Most recently, a visiting European Union mission said the takeover by the monarch had "darkened" the prospects for a resolution of the Maoist insurgency and the country's political crisis. The King is also under immense pressure to respond to a three-month ceasefire by the Maoists, which will end on December 13. But if he is looking for a way out of an increasingly tight corner, announcing municipal elections in February 2006 or pledging parliamentary elections two years from now, without resolving the outstanding political issues first, seems hardly the way to go about it. The seven-party alliance rightly saw it as a disingenuous ploy by the monarch to win some legitimacy and extend his rule. Their decision to boycott the municipal elections has been vindicated by the ordinance placing new curbs on the media. A free media is a prerequisite for a free and fair democratic election. The only way out for King Gyanendra is to back off from the confrontation with democratic forces and accept that he is nothing more than a constitutional monarch, the role prescribed for him by the 1990 Constitution.

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