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Author Topic: Historic elections in Nepal
BetterRed
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posted 10 April 2008 05:06 PM      Profile for BetterRed     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
From the Star article:

quote:
Regardless of the outcome, the election is likely to change this country forever.

The 601 seats up for grabs are for a constituent assembly that will draw up a new constitution. Most of the assembly will be elected, but a few members will be appointed. Women, those of low caste and the long-oppressed people from the southern plains are among those angling for a say in how to reinvent their country.

It is a mark of how profoundly the Maoists have reshaped the political discourse here that the assembly's first order of business, by consent of all the major parties, will be to address the Maoists' most cherished dream: abolition of the monarchy.

Nepal has been a unified Hindu kingdom for 239 years, under the reign of monarchs believed to be earthly incarnations of the god Vishnu. But a disastrous, 15-month period of absolute rule by King Gyanendra, which ended in April 2006 after a popular revolt, has turned him into a figure of widespread loathing. One-time royalists have become fervent republicans.

The three major parties promise to declare Nepal a republic. Over the last two years, the interim government has stripped Gyanendra of power, scrubbed his portrait from the currency, subjected him to taxes and excised the word "royal" from the army and the national airline. He rarely appears in public.

For the Maoists, it is sweet revenge. The king zealously prosecuted the war against them, relying on a security apparatus that was accused by human rights groups of committing atrocities every bit as bloody as the Maoists' own record of killings, kidnappings and torture.



The article also mentions the former Maoist guerilla-turned politician.

From: They change the course of history, everyday ppl like you and me | Registered: Jan 2006  |  IP: Logged
unionist
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posted 12 April 2008 11:03 AM      Profile for unionist     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The Maoists (Communist Party of Nepal) appear to be leading:

quote:
Nepal's Maoist former rebels have taken an early lead in an election for a new assembly, according to tallies from a vote held earlier in the week.

Election officials said on Saturday that candidates for the country's Maoist movement, the Communist Party of Nepal, have won 20 of about 40 constituencies where results from Thursday's vote have been declared, with one of the seats in the capital, Kathmandu, going to their leader Prachanda, who goes by one name.



From: Vote QS! | Registered: Dec 2005  |  IP: Logged
ceti
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posted 12 April 2008 02:53 PM      Profile for ceti     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The Maoists are doing much better than expected (although the enthusiasm of their cadres has far exceeded those of other parties). Their call for a New Nepal has obviously resonated with the public.

All international observers are calling the election free and fair. Violence is even down during this election (and the Maoists have actually born the brunt of the violence, as even Carter points out here.

It's actually kind of an odd counterpoint. The Maoists are actually most popular among Nepal's non-Hindu ethnic minorities who are related to Tibetans.


From: various musings before the revolution | Registered: Jan 2005  |  IP: Logged
KenS
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posted 14 April 2008 08:40 AM      Profile for KenS     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
BBC opdate:

Nepal's Maoist party has taken a commanding lead in a landmark election to form an assembly tasked with writing a new constitution.

quote:
The Maoists are reported to have about half of the 160 seats declared so far, well ahead of other parties and far more than many analysts had expected.

The party now has a good chance of securing an absolute majority.

.....

Vote of confidence

The polls are the first to test the Maoists at the ballot box after their 10-year insurgency.

The BBC's Charles Haviland in Kathmandu says this is an extraordinary vote of confidence in the Maoists.

The next largest party, the Nepali Congress, is trailing far behind with just 21 seats.

The party has not just done well in the countryside, it has also won seven of the 15 seats in the Kathmandu valley.



From: Minasville, NS | Registered: Aug 2001  |  IP: Logged
M. Spector
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posted 14 April 2008 08:46 AM      Profile for M. Spector   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Obviously the vote was rigged.

Who in their right mind would vote in favour of having an anti-imperialist government?


From: One millihelen: The amount of beauty required to launch one ship. | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged
N.Beltov
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posted 14 April 2008 08:52 AM      Profile for N.Beltov   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Monthly Review has a number of articles on/about Nepal. For example, in The Nepali Revolution and International Relations John Mage writes about the success in driving off foreign intruders and intervention, particularly the US (surprise, surprise), in that little country know to some as the "yam" balanced "between two boulders."

There are a number of other articles as well at the link provided. Interestingly, the lead article substantiates the CIA involvement in training and organizating Tibetan terrorists against China by the "Khampa" Tibetan contras.


From: Vancouver Island | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
KenS
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posted 15 April 2008 04:58 AM      Profile for KenS     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I have a friend doing international work in Nepal. His work brings him into broad conatacts, including the Maoists, and like a lot of internationals there, he needs to have a level headed realistic understanding of what is going on.

He says that while the Maoists did well and better than expected, nobody expects them to get a majority. The sense out here otherwise comes from the little reporting we get looking for drama in the news. None of the PR results are in yet and the Maoists will be far from a majority in those.

While he didn't comment specifically on this, from what I know, the Maoists don't need a majority either. They have at the very least the upper hand in the future of governing Nepal- the election results just solidify that.

[ 15 April 2008: Message edited by: KenS ]


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John K
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posted 15 April 2008 02:58 PM      Profile for John K        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Updated results are available on this website:
Nepal Election Results

The Maoist party has won a clear majority of the constituency seats and is leading in the PR seats. The Communists are in second place in both narrowly leading the Congress Party (which also is an avowedly Socialist Party).

The Maoists have every right to govern as they won elections that are widely regarded as free and fair.


From: Edmonton | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
Fidel
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posted 15 April 2008 03:22 PM      Profile for Fidel     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Nepal is a net importer of oil.

No need for political interference, mercenaries, or NeoLiberal ideology there.

[ 15 April 2008: Message edited by: Fidel ]


From: Viva La Revolución | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged
John K
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posted 15 April 2008 06:01 PM      Profile for John K        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The Guardian interviewed Prachanda, the Maoist party leader, shortly before the election.
quote:
Ten years of "people's war" - which left 13,000 dead - was hardly the best training ground for non-violent politics but the former rebels say that democracy is not "an alternative to armed struggle but a logical conclusion".

No person represents this profound shift in thinking more than the Maoist chairman and founder, Comrade Prachanda ("fierce one"), or Pushpa Kamal Dahal, as he is known on the ballot slip. In an interview with the Guardian, Prachanda said he would respect the result of the election even if the Maoists lost. "If anybody tries to disrupt the peace process then we would create a mass movement against any acts of sabotage. But we will respect any verdict of the elections."

For one-time advocates of a single-party state, this is a significant turnaround. In the past, the Maoists simply shot people who disagreed with them. But democracy, said Prachanda, was the ultimate lesson of the 20th century.

"Look at all the great revolutions and counter-revolutions in the last century. We came to the conclusion that multi-party competition is a must for a vibrant society, even a vibrant socialist society."



Multi-party competition is a must

Some lessons here perhaps for the Mugabes and Castros of the world, as well as for the self-proclaimed anti-imperialist contingent on babble.


From: Edmonton | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
Fidel
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posted 15 April 2008 06:38 PM      Profile for Fidel     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
JK, you forgot to mention the CIA who are notorious for rigging elections around the world, from installing brutal dictatorships in S. Vietnam and Korea to Guatemala and Afghanistan, El Salvador and Haiti in relatively recent years. Few countries can establish social democracy when it is hampered by handicapitalism.

U.S. managed elections, with the threat of violence, are called "democratic"


From: Viva La Revolución | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged
jrootham
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posted 15 April 2008 07:16 PM      Profile for jrootham     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Different argument.

Necessary and valid argument for sure. But the thrust of the original post was for progressive forces to support elections.


From: Toronto | Registered: Jun 2001  |  IP: Logged
a lonely worker
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posted 15 April 2008 08:03 PM      Profile for a lonely worker     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
John K writes:

Some lessons here perhaps for the Mugabes and Castros of the world, as well as for the self-proclaimed anti-imperialist contingent on babble.


John the article you quote from the "left" leaning Guardian itself is full of contradictions and spin.

At the centre of it is the same bias the permeates all of our "democratic" rules: any party can win an election provided they remain capitalist and not piss the US empire off.

That theme is even more pronounced in the rest of the corporate media.

Today's Star for example dropped all pretenses of "democracy" and asked the question that really matters:

quote:
But it raises a host of other questions: Are the Maoists the committed, if left-leaning, capitalists they now claim to be? Can leaders accustomed to giving battlefield orders handle the give and take of a democracy?

And what of the new government's relations with India, the regional heavyweight? And the United States, which still considers the former rebel movement a terrorist organization?

Despite the weakening of Marx-quoting Communists elsewhere ... The Maoists say bringing prosperity to the masses is their top priority, but through capitalism – at least for now – not the communal peasant uprising preached by late Chinese leader Mao Zedong.

"Our main concern will be to create an atmosphere to have a capitalistic mode of production," Maoist leader Prachanda said weeks ago


link

This is the real issue: if the Maoists play by the rules by maintaining capitalism (which has done nothing for the people) and obeying India and the US; all will be fine and they will ultimately be defeated by people disillusioned by just another "leftist" party that made no changes (see Italy). If they carry out their mandate (no matter how democratically) and place the interests of their people ahead of corporate profits and Washington's; they will face the full wrath of empire.

This is happening right now in places like Bolivia where Morales continues to build an alternative to capitalism through democratic means. The west has responded by funding an insurgency, "democratic think tanks", building a massive military base on their border, encouraging separatists forces (all 5 "separtist" governors regularly fly to Miami and Washington for consultations with the US government) and spying on their citizens.

They are now stepping in and trying to carve the country up:

OAS steps in to help defuse Bolivian crisis

The only time the west steps in to advert "crisis" is to undermine governments that try a different path to the Washington consensus. Haiti, Venezuela and Nicaragua are 3 examples. In all other cases (Colombia being the obvious one), any group opposed to their puppet regime is labeled a "terrorist" and brutally slaughtered. We all know you never deal with "terrorists"; only "freedom fighters".

To put this in a Canadian context, imagine if Canada elected a truly democratic socialist government. The US then funds Albertan and Quebec separatists, builds military bases on our border, meets regularly with these provincial leaders, gives them money, pays people to spy and protest our government, declares us a "narco-terrorist state" because we refuse to allow US drug agents on our soil and gets the OAS to immediately declare an "emergency" and convenes meetings to grant more sovereignty to our renegade provinces (particularly in oil and hydro electric). If these attempts fail, the inevitable assassinations, black ops, coups, unrelenting media propaganda, terrorism or "Operation True North Strong and Free" are sure to follow. How is this democratic?

This has happened to every country that has rejected the neo-lib model; no matter how democratic their methods.

So the answer to your question is yes multi party elections are important but allowing people the right to choose their own economic path is an even more important democratic right than simply being allowed to vote for my boss to wear a red tie or a blue one.

[ 15 April 2008: Message edited by: a lonely worker ]


From: Anywhere that annoys neo-lib tools | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
ceti
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posted 16 April 2008 07:25 AM      Profile for ceti     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The Star covered it after their nasty rehashing of the "communist" chic bashing from Saturday? It took them long enough!
From: various musings before the revolution | Registered: Jan 2005  |  IP: Logged
ceti
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posted 16 April 2008 07:29 AM      Profile for ceti     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Ironically, the Maoists argued for a larger PR share to hedge their bets against coming up short in the constituency seats. Now, it will work against them, even if they are leading 32 to 21 and 21.

They Royalist parties have been literally annihilated!


From: various musings before the revolution | Registered: Jan 2005  |  IP: Logged
Wilf Day
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posted 16 April 2008 08:11 AM      Profile for Wilf Day     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by ceti:
Ironically, the Maoists argued for a larger PR share to hedge their bets against coming up short in the constituency seats. Now, it will work against them, even if they are leading 32 to 21 and 21.

Keep in mind this is the Japanese parallel system, not the mixed compensatory system familiar in Germany, Scotland, New Zealand, etc. The Maoists keep their full constituency seats, currently 116 of 218 declared, 22 to come, and will get their full share of PR seats as well. But the PR seats will give smaller parties a higher proportion of seats than the winner-take-all results, so the Maoists will not have a one-party majority.

The Madhesi Janadhikar Forum has pledged support to the would-be government led by the CPN (Maoist). It has emerged as a major political force in Terai and appears to have gained a bargaining power as the future Maoist government will need strong coalition support. It has 23 FPTP seats, more to come in the PR seats.

[ 16 April 2008: Message edited by: Wilf Day ]


From: Port Hope, Ontario | Registered: Oct 2002  |  IP: Logged
ceti
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posted 16 April 2008 10:40 AM      Profile for ceti     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Congress and UML will probably sulk for a bit before thinking about joining the governing coalition. Having Mahdeshi party support will be important in diffusing ethnic tensions in the plains.

It should be noted that the King will be ejected peacefully. Wasn't so much the case in English Civil War or French Revolution where heads did roll.

In many ways this is a belated bourgeois revolution.


From: various musings before the revolution | Registered: Jan 2005  |  IP: Logged
Doug
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posted 20 April 2008 02:25 AM      Profile for Doug   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Nepal's Maoists say king should not be humiliated

Perhaps they'll tell him about what he has on his head then.

quote:
Votes cast in the April 10 elections are still being counted. The latest results showed the Maoists had won 117 of the 222 seats declared so far.

They will become part of a 601-member special assembly that is charged with preparing a new constitution and formally declaring Nepal a republic.

Prachanda said the first meeting of the special assembly, expected in May, would abolish the monarchy in keeping with an agreement made by the Maoists and mainstream political parties in December.



From: Toronto, Canada | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
Fidel
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posted 30 May 2008 09:38 PM      Profile for Fidel     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Eviction notice for Nepal's ex-king

quote:
Nepal's newly-elected government has formally informed the deposed monarch to vacate the royal palace within the next two weeks.

The order was officially relayed to him on Friday - a national holiday.

The abolition of the monarchy was a key demand of the former rebels who emerged from April's elections to the national assembly as the biggest party.

Nepalese television stations have broadcast video of trucks being driven from the palace to Gyanendra's private home, filmed overnight.



From: Viva La Revolución | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged

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