• Nepal: Dictatorship of Political Parties

Nepal: Political Parties Threatening Democracy

Nepal’s main political parties are threatening democracy in myriad ways. They are supposed to be the link between the electorate/ people and the government, but this is just an illusion. There is close contact, but only during elections.

We have a so-called electoral democracy, and that’s it. After elections and government formation, there is no control and accountability. This is one of the major deficiencies of the present constitution.

As we are observing daily in the run-up to the elections, the main parties are in the process of forming ‘electoral alliances’ which will make it very difficult for smaller parties and independent candidates. Is there then any real choice?

The smaller parties do not have the cash – especially the huge amounts – which are necessary to fight elections successfully. A further weakness of the electoral process is that the Election Commission is too weak to control the colossal amounts at play. A fundamental weakness of the current political system is that political participation is very weak, in spite of the fact that the so-called Loktantra [people’s democracy] has been praised and is still praised to the high heavens. It has practically been reduced to systematic kleptocracy from top to bottom.

There should be a proper devolution of power – which is absolutely missing in the current federal set-up. Elected officials, even at the lowest level, think that they have received carte blanche to exploit local resources to their heart’s content. This continues at each rung of the ladder to the national level.

We cannot cater to the opinion that Nepali political parties are not like their Western counterparts and have to support a wide range of clientele – cadres, helpers, advisers and supporters – like a large family or tribe.

Just like we have the imported system of parliamentary democracy, we have to transform our political parties with practicing internal democracy. And just as in Britain with a healthy democracy and constitutional monarchy, the same should also be possible in Nepal. The Rashtriya Prajatantra Party (RPP/National Democratic Party) cannot be condemned outright as regressive just because it follows these aims. Compared to the other main parties, it is, in fact, more patriotic and democratic.