Nepal: The Politics of Referendum

Abstract

THE 1980 REFERENDUM in Nepal was a critical landmark in the country's continuing quest since the 1950s for a national consensus regarding the nature of its political system. In contrast to the neighbouring South Asian states of Pakistan and Bangladesh, however, where referenda have tended to be instruments used by political incumbents to legitimize a fait accompli, the Nepalese referendum aimed at ascertaining the people's preferences regarding two political frameworks-the existing Panchayat system with suitable reforms, or its replacement by a multi-party system. The Panchayat system was a legacy which King Birendra had inherited as early as 1972. What factors and forces impelled him to seek the country's verdict on its suitability seven years after he ascended the throne? How did the governing and oppositional elites react to the announcement? What were the patterns of alignment and modalities of campaigning in the period preceding the referendum, from May 1979 to May 1980? What are the implications-long-term as well as short-term-of the referendum results for the political system of Nepal? To answer these questions, it is necessary to probe into the nature and character of the power structure in the land-locked kingdom as it evolved under the Panchayat system, the political as well as socioeconomic pressures and pulls leading to the referendum-announcement, the strategies and tactics of the governing and non-governing elites to seize upon the key issues, the regional and ethnic dimensions of the referendum results and, finally, the implication of the verdict for the processes of stateand nation-building in Nepal.