Nearly
50 years ago there was another 'groundbreaking' election in Nepal as
these articles from TIME magazine remind us all. Some of the issues,
strategic debates and worries by 'Western' politicians sounds very
familiar, I think...
view of
Tobias
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Time Magazine
Monday, Apr. 13, 1959
First Elections
In
over a century of service as British mercenaries, Nepal 's tough little
Gurkhas have won an enviable reputation as cool and tenacious soldiers.
Last week the Nepalese showed they had the same kind of staying power
politically. After marathon balloting spread over 45 days, Nepal
completed the first elections in its history.
The time
consumed was not surprising. Only eight years away from feudal tyranny,
craggy Nepal is a hodgepodge of Newars, Magars, Limbu, Murmi and
Brahmans, sorely lacks paved roads and modern communications. Literacy
is so low (6%) that parties were identified on the ballot boxes by
pictures. The whole idea of an election, in fact, is so foreign to
Nepalese that they have no word for "vote," were obliged to borrow the
English.
What was surprising was that, despite these
handicaps, Nepal ran smoother elections than many a more advanced
nation. More than half the 109 Parliament seats went to the Nepali
Congress Party. Communists got only a handful as did the party of Nepal
's most colorful politician, anti-American K. I. Singh. Under Nepali
Congress Party Leader (and prospective Premier) B. P. Koirala , Nepal
will probably keep to the same course it pursued under King Mahendra,
who ordered the elections (and will continue to reign as a
constitutional monarch). Major difference is that now Nepal 's rulers
can be confident that they have public approval.
Source: http://www.time. com/time/ magazine/ article/0, 9171,810959, 00.html
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Time Magazine
Monday, Jul. 13, 1959
Democracy Comes at Midnight
The
arrival of democracy last week in Nepal 's capital of Katmandu had a
Himalayan flavor all its own. After an endless, crowded tea party on
the green lawn of the royal palace, the new Cabinet finally assembled
an hour before midnight in a palace hall dimly lit by five huge
chandeliers ( Katmandu is often short of electric power). Advised by
his court astrologers that the time was right, King Mahendra, 39, rose
from his silver and red velvet throne and swore into office Prime
Minister B. P. Koirala and 19 other ministers. Then everyone present
raced across town through streets swarming with mosquitoes for the
swearing-in of the 109 successful candidates in Nepal 's first
elections for M.P.s. More than half belong to the Prime Minister's
Nepali Congress Party, but included is a vociferous handful of
Communists.
Prisoner
King. That democracy arrived at all was remarkable, for the 9,000,000
people of Nepal have spent only the last eight years in the 20th
century. Before that, the nation was a feudal state governed by the
Ranas, a ruthless family of hereditary Prime Ministers who kept the
King a
prisoner. It was said that when a Rana had amassed a $30 million
fortune as Prime Minister, he was expected to pass the job on to his
nearest male relative. In 1951 the Ranas were overthrown with
surprising ease, and the Kings of Nepal came into their own. A
democratic constitution, with points of resemblance to the legal
systems of Britain , India and the U.S. , was drawn up, and elections
held last spring.
Enterprising
King Mahendra and Prime Minister Koirala are agreed on the need to put
their chaotic country to rights. Tawny-skinned and brown-eyed, with a
thin face and frame like that of Frank Sinatra, Prime Minister
Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala was born at Banaras, India in 1914, where
his articulate professional father had fled the wrath of the Ranas.
Graduating from the University of Calcutta with a law degree, Koirala
joined Nehru and Gandhi in the fight for Indian independence, was
jailed for 2^ years by the British. With the downfall of the Ranas, he
returned to Nepal with his older half brother, M. P. Koirala, over whom
he later triumphed in a struggle for power.
Verbal
Contact. Prime Minister Koirala is articulately Western in thought (his
favorite author: French Novelist Albert Camus) and has an informal
ability to get things done that is rare in inefficient Nepal . A
political opponent says: "He keeps his word; that's what counts most."
The Prime Minister can expect continuing help from India in money and
technicians because Nepal , on the border of Tibet , is a strategic
mountain barrier to Red Chinese expansion. The U.S. is supporting
road-building projects, developing civil aviation, and setting up a
radio communication net to bring Katmandu into verbal contact with the
rest of the country. The Soviet Union has promised Nepal a new
hydroelectric plant and factories for refining sugar and making
cigarettes. Both the Soviet Union and the U.S. are rushing to get into
Katmandu first with a fully staffed embassy.
Sharing
the vaguely socialist views of India's Nehru, but "with room for
free-enterprise capitalism," the energetic Prime Minister recognizes
Communists as his enemies at home and Red China as his enemy abroad; in
typical Red "cartographic aggression," Chinese maps lay claim to large
chunks of Nepal. Not long ago, Koirala declared that "the Tibetan
tragedy was an Asian parallel to the Hungarian annihilation." Nehru has
not been heard to say as much about either Tibet or Hungary .
Source: http://www.time. com/time/ magazine/ article/0, 9171,869138, 00.html