Nothing better expresses the state of Nepali politics than the question on everyone´s minds these days: What next? A dysfunctional right-centre coalition government has just survived a no-confidence motion brought against it by an equally dysfunctional left-right opposition. Since Nepal´s current "hung Parliament" has unsuccessfully tried every permutation possible with its collage of parties and fratricidal factions within parties, a sense of ennui shrouds the land. If there is one thing that Nepalis seem to be united on today, it is in the feeling that somehow, something, somewhere, will give.
This round of political drama started when Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa, heading a clumsy coalition of left-wing rightists, right-wing centrists and regional opportunists, got wind of several far-right MPs of his own party secretly bolting over to his archrival within the party, Lokendra Bahadur Chand, to team up with right-wing communists to bring him down. In a lightning move, which took even his own coalition partners by surprise, he recommended dissolution of Parliament "since there is no possibility of it providing a stable government" and the holding of fresh elections.
Within hours of Thapa exercising his constitutional prerogative, the collage of far-right rightists, right-wing communists and, strangely, far-left communists were knocking at the gates of King Birendra´s palace asking him to exercise another constitutional prerogative that gave them the right to call for a special session of Parliament whose dissolution the prime minister had just recommended. The plot then started thickening.
Faced with contradictory constitutional claims, King Birendra decided to seek the legal advice of the Supreme Court, an action which has precipitated a political churning, the fallout of which will be evident in the days ahead. This move by the monarch was a break from the past when he had simply followed the advice of two previous prime ministers to dissolve the house and hold fresh election -although in the second instance when the prime minister was heading a minority government, the Supreme Court had overturned the monarch´s action and reinstated the parliament. This time, King Birendra was seen as playing favourites against left-wing rightists and right-wing centrists, giving credence to the belief of some that the right and left extremists have often served as Trojan horses for the Palace.