After prolonged political theatrics, Nepal’s President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Friday at midnight dissolved Parliament and announced early elections even while the country reeled under a ferocious Covid-19 resurgence.
She made the decision at the recommendation of Prime Minister K P Oli after there were two conflicting claims to form the next government from Oli himself, and from a coalition led by four-time prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress (NC).
Despite the late hour, the decision was widely condemned in Nepal’s public sphere with many commentators accusing Oli of showing authoritarian tendencies and ‘cheating’. The decision has also dragged President Bhandari into controversy for not defending her constitutional role, and for being a ‘rubber stamp’ for the government.
In a brief statement, spokesperson of the presidential secretariat Keshab Ghimire said the decision had been taken as per Article 76 (7) of the Constitution and early elections would be held in two phases on 12 and 19 November, 2021.
Justifying her move, the president’s office said neither Deuba nor Oli had been able to legally prove that they had the confidence of a majority of the House. President Bhandari had given a deadline of 5pm Friday for parties in Parliament to show that they had the confidence of most MPs.
Deuba of the NC mustered the support of 149 MPs from his own party, the Maoist Centre as well as the anti-Oli members within the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) and the prime minister’s own UML. The number was supposed to be enough to make Deuba Nepal’s prime minister for the fifth time.
However, Oli reached Shital Nibas ahead of Deuba and his loyalists on Friday afternoon with a claim to have the support of 153 members of his UML party and the JSP, even though the dissident factions without both parties had sided with Deuba.
The NC-MC-JSP coalition was cobbled together with the NC’s 61 members, 48 from the MC, 27 from the the Madhav Kumar Nepal faction of Oli’s UML and 13 from the Upendra Yadav faction of the JSP.
Both sides would have needed only 136 votes in the current 266 membership of the House to form a government. However, when added up, the claims of support from Oli and Deuba totalled more than the membership of the House. The president appears to have used this loophole to announce elections, even though it was clear that Oli did not have the support of sizeable sections of his own party and the JSP.
Both claims of majority interpreted differently the clauses in the Constitution about whether party strength or member numbers should be used as a basis for counting support of Parliament.
However, all this was of least concern to most Nepalis who have been trying to survive a virulent Covid-19 second wave, as hospitals run out of oxygen and ICU beds. There were 177 more deaths on Friday, taking the total to over 6,000. The number of fatalities have doubled in the past three weeks.
Nepal’s rudimentary health system, even in the cities, is stretched to the limit. But the virus is now spreading in rural communities where there are few hospitals.
Most of the outrage about the prime minister’s move has centred on why Nepal’s tried and tested politicians were engaged in an endless power struggle while the country was reeling under a ferocious resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic. Most of the country has been under lockdown for the past month, and there is a likelihood that it will be extended beyond 31 May.
Critics also pointed out that a Prime Minister who had earlier lost a confidence vote in the House, and who himself had admitted that he had lost his majority, had used extra-constitutional means to force the president to dissolve Parliament and call elections.
‘Understand this, Madam President and Comrade Prime Minister, this gang rape of the Constitution will be costly for you during the elections,’ Congress Spokesperson Biswa Prakash Sharma said in a controversial Tweet posted at 1AM.
`अहंकारको वृक्षमा विनाशको फल लाग्छ´,
— Bishwa Prakash शर्मा (@bishwaprakash77) May 21, 2021
सिंगो महाभारतको संक्षिप्त सार यत्ति हो !
बुझि राख्नु रास्ट्रपति महोदया र कमरेड प्रधानमन्त्रीजि, महाब्याधिका बेला मध्यावधिको रंगीन सपना महंगो पर्नेछ ! संविधानको सामुहिक बलात्कारको दुश्परिणाम महंगो पर्नेछ l
With an ex-prime minister who has already held the post four times, and a three-time prime minister who had lost the confidence of the House on 10 May, both claiming to have a majority, President Bhandari took more than six hours to come up with her decision. Many were not surprised, since she is seen to be loyal to Oli, who appointed her.