Nepal and Bhutan in 1998: Two Himalayan Kingdoms

Abstract

Nepal An assessment from the opening paragraph in last year's Nepal in 1997 article would appear to be equally appropriate for 1998: uncertainty writ large in the composition of the second Parliament, in which no party commanded an absolute majority, was aggravated by internal division within the parties and by unprincipled and highly opportunistic alliance maneuvers.1 Perhaps these trends appeared on an even more theatrical scale in 1998. At the beginning of the year, a coalition government headed by Surya Bahadur Thapa of the National Democratic Party (NDP) and including the Nepali Congress (NC) and the Sadbhavana Party (NSP) appeared to be on the verge of collapse, due to major divisions between the NDP and NC leaders as well as factional fights within each of the parties. The NC, headed by G. P. Koirala, insisted that the agreement it had made with the NDP in late 1997, under which the prime minister's post would rotate between Thapa and Koirala, would not last. The position of the NDP was further weakened on January 12 when the dissident L. B. Chund faction left the party and formed the New National Democratic Party (NNDP) that included 40% of the NDP MPs. Koirala appeared to be positioned to form a new coalition, particularly as the leader of the United Marxist-Leninist party (UML), M. M. Adhikari, had indicated his willingness to consider joining such a coalition. This led the leader of a dissident UML faction, headed by B. D. Gautam, to denounce Adhikari as too conservative and to in turn organize a revolutionary party called the Marxist Leninist (ML).2