You are in > Forum
Forum
Election in Nepal: Maoists take early lead
Posted by: ahab (IP Logged)
Date: April 12, 2008 04:14PM
The following article is taken from: [www.thaindian.com]
By Sudeshna Sarkar
Kathmandu, April 12 (IANS) A deep yearning for change, anger at corrupt politicians and the presence of a large number of youngsters and women among the voters began propelling the Communist Party of Nepal, once a terrorist organisation with a bounty on the heads of its leaders, into an astounding victory belying public anticipation. “Baishak ko paila hapta ma, Maobadi satta ma” (Maoists will form the government in the first week of Nepali new year) exulted hundreds of young men and women, some of them with red bandanas tied round their heads and their foreheads smeared with vermilion.
Waving the Maoist flag with the hammer and sickle, they began parading in Kathmandu and outer districts to celebrate the victory of their party in Nepal’s historic constituent assembly election watched keenly by the whole world.
On the second day of counting Saturday, the former guerrillas, who had waged a ruthless 10-year war trying to abolish Nepal’s once-omnipotent line of kings, had captured 23 of the 36 seats whose results were declared so far and were leading in 65 of 120 constituencies where counting was in progress.
Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s Nepali Congress (NC) bagged six seats, the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) four and another communist party, Nepal Workers and People’s Party, two.
The new ethnic party rising from the Terai plains, the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, won one seat.
Crowds of cadres waiting patiently before the Birendra International Convention Centre in the capital where counting was on to determine the fate of their supremo Prachanda burst out dancing and clapping as the former schoolteacher was declared elected.
Prachanda, who took part in an election for the first time in a political career spanning three decades, won from Kathmandu 10, the prestigious constituency in the capital, and was leading by a huge margin from Rolpa, the remote district in Midwestern Nepal, that served as the cradle of the Maoist movement.
His face half hidden under a mountain of marigold garlands, the Maoist chief’s victory speech pledged reconciliation and sought to allay fears that his party could go berserk after victory.
“I would like to allay the international community’s fear as to what will happen after a Maoist victory,” the rebel chief said.
“We pledge to work with all the parties, besides the ruling ones and the new ones to write a new constitution.
“We will work in cooperation with the other parties and retain the ruling coalition till the constitution is written.”
Prachanda said the thrust would be on economic development and establishing lasting peace in order to achieve that.
“In this 21st century, we need the cooperation of everyone for development,” he said. “We want good relations with our neighbours India and China and other members of the international community.”
However, Prachanda offered no word of hope for the king. “We will work for a federal democratic republic to build a strong foundation for peace,” he said.
The humbled NC and UML were taking stock of their position.
The defeated leaders included Madhav Kumar Nepal, former deputy prime minister and UML chief, who was humbled by a little-known Maoist contender, Jhakku Prasad Subedi, in Kathmandu 2, the seat that had returned Nepal in the last election in 1999.
Embracing the spirit of reconciliation, Nepal issued a public statement, congratulating Subedi and announcing his resignation as general secretary of his party.
The prime minister’s daughter Sujata, cousin Sushil and nephew Shekhar were also struggling in the Terai plains.
Former American president Jimmy Carter, who was monitoring the election as head of a delegation from his Carter Center, put the seal of approval on the former rebels, saying Washington, that had still kept the Maoists on its list of terrorist organisations, should now start to “do business” with them.
“It serves no purpose for the US government to continue to boycott the Maoists after they laid down arms and began to participate (in the peace process) on an equal basis with the other parties,” the Nobel laureate said.
“I hope if the Maoists continue to gain substantial status they (the US administration) will recognise and begin to do business with the Maoists.”
The former US president also defended the Maoists against charges of inciting pre-poll violence. The charges had been made by a delegation of Asian observers.
“Are you familiar with the victims of violence?” Carter retorted. “Fourteen of the 16 killed in pre-poll violence were Maoists.
He also pointed out that of the eight people who had died on a single day, seven were Maoists.
“They were not armed and did not fire,” he said. “They were all victims of assassination.”
By Sudeshna Sarkar
Kathmandu, April 12 (IANS) A deep yearning for change, anger at corrupt politicians and the presence of a large number of youngsters and women among the voters began propelling the Communist Party of Nepal, once a terrorist organisation with a bounty on the heads of its leaders, into an astounding victory belying public anticipation. “Baishak ko paila hapta ma, Maobadi satta ma” (Maoists will form the government in the first week of Nepali new year) exulted hundreds of young men and women, some of them with red bandanas tied round their heads and their foreheads smeared with vermilion.
Waving the Maoist flag with the hammer and sickle, they began parading in Kathmandu and outer districts to celebrate the victory of their party in Nepal’s historic constituent assembly election watched keenly by the whole world.
On the second day of counting Saturday, the former guerrillas, who had waged a ruthless 10-year war trying to abolish Nepal’s once-omnipotent line of kings, had captured 23 of the 36 seats whose results were declared so far and were leading in 65 of 120 constituencies where counting was in progress.
Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s Nepali Congress (NC) bagged six seats, the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) four and another communist party, Nepal Workers and People’s Party, two.
The new ethnic party rising from the Terai plains, the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, won one seat.
Crowds of cadres waiting patiently before the Birendra International Convention Centre in the capital where counting was on to determine the fate of their supremo Prachanda burst out dancing and clapping as the former schoolteacher was declared elected.
Prachanda, who took part in an election for the first time in a political career spanning three decades, won from Kathmandu 10, the prestigious constituency in the capital, and was leading by a huge margin from Rolpa, the remote district in Midwestern Nepal, that served as the cradle of the Maoist movement.
His face half hidden under a mountain of marigold garlands, the Maoist chief’s victory speech pledged reconciliation and sought to allay fears that his party could go berserk after victory.
“I would like to allay the international community’s fear as to what will happen after a Maoist victory,” the rebel chief said.
“We pledge to work with all the parties, besides the ruling ones and the new ones to write a new constitution.
“We will work in cooperation with the other parties and retain the ruling coalition till the constitution is written.”
Prachanda said the thrust would be on economic development and establishing lasting peace in order to achieve that.
“In this 21st century, we need the cooperation of everyone for development,” he said. “We want good relations with our neighbours India and China and other members of the international community.”
However, Prachanda offered no word of hope for the king. “We will work for a federal democratic republic to build a strong foundation for peace,” he said.
The humbled NC and UML were taking stock of their position.
The defeated leaders included Madhav Kumar Nepal, former deputy prime minister and UML chief, who was humbled by a little-known Maoist contender, Jhakku Prasad Subedi, in Kathmandu 2, the seat that had returned Nepal in the last election in 1999.
Embracing the spirit of reconciliation, Nepal issued a public statement, congratulating Subedi and announcing his resignation as general secretary of his party.
The prime minister’s daughter Sujata, cousin Sushil and nephew Shekhar were also struggling in the Terai plains.
Former American president Jimmy Carter, who was monitoring the election as head of a delegation from his Carter Center, put the seal of approval on the former rebels, saying Washington, that had still kept the Maoists on its list of terrorist organisations, should now start to “do business” with them.
“It serves no purpose for the US government to continue to boycott the Maoists after they laid down arms and began to participate (in the peace process) on an equal basis with the other parties,” the Nobel laureate said.
“I hope if the Maoists continue to gain substantial status they (the US administration) will recognise and begin to do business with the Maoists.”
The former US president also defended the Maoists against charges of inciting pre-poll violence. The charges had been made by a delegation of Asian observers.
“Are you familiar with the victims of violence?” Carter retorted. “Fourteen of the 16 killed in pre-poll violence were Maoists.
He also pointed out that of the eight people who had died on a single day, seven were Maoists.
“They were not armed and did not fire,” he said. “They were all victims of assassination.”
Re: Election in Nepal: Maoists take early lead
Posted by: Antonio Mella (IP Logged)
Date: April 14, 2008 01:34PM
Ahab is right. As of this morning 14th April 2008, the Maoists have won 89 of the 162 declared seats in the 240-member Constituent Assembly. The former rebels are heading for an outright majority.
This strikes a tremendous blow against US imperialism in South Asia. Nepal shares the its longest border with the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China. The US funded separatists of the Dalai Lama clique could wake up next door to a progressive, democratic and anti feudalist Republic of Nepal. But, the global significance of this popular victory is in the shape of the revolutionary strategy adopted by the Nepali rebels.
The Maoists combined the healthiest practices of 20th Century Stalinism with a new 21st Century Socialist revolutionary strategy, as recently witnessed in Latin America.
The Stalinist character of the Nepali rebellion was found in uncompromising Maoist attitude towards religious, feudal and royalist character of class oppression in Nepal. The rebels began their armed struggle in combating Hindu cast discrimination. They fought to emancipate Nepali women, empowering women through formal freedoms and equality and by practical example: including women in commanding positions in the rebel army.
The rebels also proved themselves to be 21st Century Socialists by not elevating armed violence and the One-Party State model into a dogmatic principal. They captured the mood of the masses by having the courage and confidence to face the bourgeois and feudalist politicians in pluralist elections. The rebels understood that in order to overturn state power, mass democratic struggle has to spread from the countryside into Nepal’s cities, to include workers, artisans and progressive intellectuals. Neither Kautsky nor Pol Pot would do the socialist movement any good.
However, the Nepali revolutionaries are travelling through dangerous waters. Being in government does not amount to seizing state power, under bourgeois democracy. How will the Royalist Army and other state security forces react to the new Constitute Assembly? Will the new Assembly be able to dissolve the Royalist Army into a new combined People’s Republican Army? Will the new Assembly be able to establish democratic and participatory workers and peasants councils with real executive power?
And then there are regional and imperial questions. Will Britain and the US use the Gorkha mercenary forces in order to mount a counter revolution? Will the US start funding Hindu and Buddhist fundamentalists in order to divide and conquer the people of Nepal? Could the Nepali Republic depend on the support of China against Anglo American destabilisation?
This strikes a tremendous blow against US imperialism in South Asia. Nepal shares the its longest border with the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China. The US funded separatists of the Dalai Lama clique could wake up next door to a progressive, democratic and anti feudalist Republic of Nepal. But, the global significance of this popular victory is in the shape of the revolutionary strategy adopted by the Nepali rebels.
The Maoists combined the healthiest practices of 20th Century Stalinism with a new 21st Century Socialist revolutionary strategy, as recently witnessed in Latin America.
The Stalinist character of the Nepali rebellion was found in uncompromising Maoist attitude towards religious, feudal and royalist character of class oppression in Nepal. The rebels began their armed struggle in combating Hindu cast discrimination. They fought to emancipate Nepali women, empowering women through formal freedoms and equality and by practical example: including women in commanding positions in the rebel army.
The rebels also proved themselves to be 21st Century Socialists by not elevating armed violence and the One-Party State model into a dogmatic principal. They captured the mood of the masses by having the courage and confidence to face the bourgeois and feudalist politicians in pluralist elections. The rebels understood that in order to overturn state power, mass democratic struggle has to spread from the countryside into Nepal’s cities, to include workers, artisans and progressive intellectuals. Neither Kautsky nor Pol Pot would do the socialist movement any good.
However, the Nepali revolutionaries are travelling through dangerous waters. Being in government does not amount to seizing state power, under bourgeois democracy. How will the Royalist Army and other state security forces react to the new Constitute Assembly? Will the new Assembly be able to dissolve the Royalist Army into a new combined People’s Republican Army? Will the new Assembly be able to establish democratic and participatory workers and peasants councils with real executive power?
And then there are regional and imperial questions. Will Britain and the US use the Gorkha mercenary forces in order to mount a counter revolution? Will the US start funding Hindu and Buddhist fundamentalists in order to divide and conquer the people of Nepal? Could the Nepali Republic depend on the support of China against Anglo American destabilisation?
Re: Election in Nepal: Maoists take early lead
Posted by: Aidan (IP Logged)
Date: April 25, 2008 09:53PM
It is uplifting news that the Communists have won in Nepal - and lets hope they stay on the correct path. I say 'communist' because as far as I have heard there is very little Maoist in the party's ideology; at least, none of Maoism's obsession with a 'peasant state', which is very good. I believe I also read that the UML came in a second position, which would leave the NC in a very pathetic position.
It's my hope that Nepal can become something of a 'Venezuala of east asia' or somesuch, a democratic socialist-communist country that sets the cornerstone for a new socialist bloc. China is unforntunately no good for that, and hasn't been for decades.
Of course, as Antonio has pointed out, it is very likely that the Empire will try its darndest to undermine the new democracy, like they've done not just with Venezuela but indeed with most progressive democracies that they came across. Luckily, Nepal has the benefit of being near China, which while being an absolute mess itself is likely to back up Nepal should any terrorist insurgency spring up. Unfortunately, very little can be done against the obvious propaganda wave that the international media will spill.
And, of course, another potential threat is from China itself - I find it not unlikely that they might connive with the Empire (all official stances aside, China nad the U.S. are really in cahoots) to take control of Nepal themselves, and start pulling the strings in that country for their own benefit, a bit like was done in Lebanon with Syria.
Still, I watch with great joy as a red sun rises once more in the east. May it work its way to high noon and stay there.
-Aidan.
i socialismo o muerte !
NOTE (and it's a long one):
Personally, I would not call the Maoist party 'Stalinist', because I do not believe that there is a concept of 'Stalinism'. Soviet Communism cannot be called Stalinism; No ideal can be named after a man who was not an idealist. And Stalin was not an idealist, his actions show him to be the most cold-blooded cynic of the 20th century, who knew exactly how to abuse and manipulate idealism to his own ends. To my mind, Stalinism is just that: a polar opposite to any kind of idealistic vision.
If Antonio Mella, or indeed anyone else here, would like to discuss 'Stalinism', they're welcome to it, but we'd best start another thread were we to do that.
Cheers.
It's my hope that Nepal can become something of a 'Venezuala of east asia' or somesuch, a democratic socialist-communist country that sets the cornerstone for a new socialist bloc. China is unforntunately no good for that, and hasn't been for decades.
Of course, as Antonio has pointed out, it is very likely that the Empire will try its darndest to undermine the new democracy, like they've done not just with Venezuela but indeed with most progressive democracies that they came across. Luckily, Nepal has the benefit of being near China, which while being an absolute mess itself is likely to back up Nepal should any terrorist insurgency spring up. Unfortunately, very little can be done against the obvious propaganda wave that the international media will spill.
And, of course, another potential threat is from China itself - I find it not unlikely that they might connive with the Empire (all official stances aside, China nad the U.S. are really in cahoots) to take control of Nepal themselves, and start pulling the strings in that country for their own benefit, a bit like was done in Lebanon with Syria.
Still, I watch with great joy as a red sun rises once more in the east. May it work its way to high noon and stay there.
-Aidan.
i socialismo o muerte !
NOTE (and it's a long one):
Personally, I would not call the Maoist party 'Stalinist', because I do not believe that there is a concept of 'Stalinism'. Soviet Communism cannot be called Stalinism; No ideal can be named after a man who was not an idealist. And Stalin was not an idealist, his actions show him to be the most cold-blooded cynic of the 20th century, who knew exactly how to abuse and manipulate idealism to his own ends. To my mind, Stalinism is just that: a polar opposite to any kind of idealistic vision.
If Antonio Mella, or indeed anyone else here, would like to discuss 'Stalinism', they're welcome to it, but we'd best start another thread were we to do that.
Cheers.
latest news!
Posted by: ahab (IP Logged)
Date: June 26, 2008 09:33PM
Nepal's PM steps down, Maoists to lead new republic
(from AFP)
KATHMANDU — Nepal's veteran prime minister announced his resignation Thursday [June 26] in a move that paves the way for a new Maoist-led government following the abolition of the monarchy.
The announcement by centrist politician Girija Prasad Koirala, who is 83 and in failing health, resolves a political stalemate over power-sharing that followed the declaration of a republic on May 28.
The Maoists have positioned their leader, Prachanda, to replace him as leader of the landlocked Himalayan nation and one of the world's poorest countries.
The prime minister, whose Nepali Congress party was soundly defeated by the Maoists in April polls for a 601-member constitutional assembly, called on the ultra-leftists to form the next government.
"I declare I have given up the prime minister's post through this assembly today. With me or without me, we all need to maintain the culture of consensus," Koirala told the body.
"I appeal to them (the Maoists) to garner consensus for the formation of a new government under their leadership," Koirala also said in a statement read out by Ram Chandra Poudel, Nepal's peace minister.
The Maoists and Congress -- Nepal's two main parties -- have been arguing for weeks over who should become the first president and prime minister of the world's youngest republic.
On Wednesday, they reached a deal that the president and prime minister will be elected through the assembly that will draft Nepal's new constitution.
"Now we all must focus on drafting a new constitution by giving up our petty political differences and ending confusion," Poudel said.
Prachanda and second-in-command Baburam Bhattarai joined hundreds of other assembly members showing their approval of Koirala's resignation by banging on the tables in the massive assembly hall.
Nepal's Maoists, who have 220 seats in the assembly, twice as many as Congress but just less than a majority, welcomed the veteran premier's resignation.
"We are glad he finally did it. We have been demanding his resignation as it had been a stumbling block for the leaders trying to reach consensus," Maoist spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara told AFP.
"The resignation is a step towards the formation of the government under our leadership," he said.
Koirala's party is likely to remain outside the new government that will be led by the former rebels, Congress officials have said, and he will not stand for election as president.
Girija Babu, as he is affectionately known, began his political career in 1947 as a union organiser in his home town of Biratnagar in southern Nepal.
He was imprisoned by Nepal's deposed royals in 1960, and spent seven years behind bars before going into exile in India.
In 1973 he masterminded the hijacking of a Royal Nepal Airlines plane known to be carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from the state bank to fund his then-banned Nepali Congress party.
His latest stint in government began in 2006 after he became prime minister following an unsuccessful 14-month period of direct rule by ex-king Gyanendra.
Koirala and Prachanda, whose name means "the fierce one," are credited with ending a decade-long civil war that killed at least 13,000 people until it was ended in a 2006 peace deal.
The rebels launched their "people's war" with the aim of toppling the monarchy and establishing a communist republic, but since the 2006 peace deal, they have said they will follow democratic norms and not return to war.
(from AFP)
KATHMANDU — Nepal's veteran prime minister announced his resignation Thursday [June 26] in a move that paves the way for a new Maoist-led government following the abolition of the monarchy.
The announcement by centrist politician Girija Prasad Koirala, who is 83 and in failing health, resolves a political stalemate over power-sharing that followed the declaration of a republic on May 28.
The Maoists have positioned their leader, Prachanda, to replace him as leader of the landlocked Himalayan nation and one of the world's poorest countries.
The prime minister, whose Nepali Congress party was soundly defeated by the Maoists in April polls for a 601-member constitutional assembly, called on the ultra-leftists to form the next government.
"I declare I have given up the prime minister's post through this assembly today. With me or without me, we all need to maintain the culture of consensus," Koirala told the body.
"I appeal to them (the Maoists) to garner consensus for the formation of a new government under their leadership," Koirala also said in a statement read out by Ram Chandra Poudel, Nepal's peace minister.
The Maoists and Congress -- Nepal's two main parties -- have been arguing for weeks over who should become the first president and prime minister of the world's youngest republic.
On Wednesday, they reached a deal that the president and prime minister will be elected through the assembly that will draft Nepal's new constitution.
"Now we all must focus on drafting a new constitution by giving up our petty political differences and ending confusion," Poudel said.
Prachanda and second-in-command Baburam Bhattarai joined hundreds of other assembly members showing their approval of Koirala's resignation by banging on the tables in the massive assembly hall.
Nepal's Maoists, who have 220 seats in the assembly, twice as many as Congress but just less than a majority, welcomed the veteran premier's resignation.
"We are glad he finally did it. We have been demanding his resignation as it had been a stumbling block for the leaders trying to reach consensus," Maoist spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara told AFP.
"The resignation is a step towards the formation of the government under our leadership," he said.
Koirala's party is likely to remain outside the new government that will be led by the former rebels, Congress officials have said, and he will not stand for election as president.
Girija Babu, as he is affectionately known, began his political career in 1947 as a union organiser in his home town of Biratnagar in southern Nepal.
He was imprisoned by Nepal's deposed royals in 1960, and spent seven years behind bars before going into exile in India.
In 1973 he masterminded the hijacking of a Royal Nepal Airlines plane known to be carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from the state bank to fund his then-banned Nepali Congress party.
His latest stint in government began in 2006 after he became prime minister following an unsuccessful 14-month period of direct rule by ex-king Gyanendra.
Koirala and Prachanda, whose name means "the fierce one," are credited with ending a decade-long civil war that killed at least 13,000 people until it was ended in a 2006 peace deal.
The rebels launched their "people's war" with the aim of toppling the monarchy and establishing a communist republic, but since the 2006 peace deal, they have said they will follow democratic norms and not return to war.
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.