New Swing In Coalition Politics

Nepali politics resembles the classic game of a tertius. The Latin term tertius denotes a triumphant third party. When two big parties in the parliament—Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML—set themselves at loggerheads, the tertius CPN-Maoist Centre as the third biggest party in parliament, successfully maneuvered to elect its chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ the Prime Minister for third time.