The election test

It is up to Prime Minister Karki to assure all stakeholders in Nepal’s political process of timely elections.

The new Sushila Karki government should single-mindedly focus on general elections six months down the line. Of course, as the head of government, she will have to deal with multiple issues from Day One. But if timely elections are the government’s focus, many other issues will take care of themselves. For instance, in order to hold elections so soon, people should feel secure enough to cast their ballots, which won’t be possible in an anarchic climate. Maintaining peace in a post-revolution environment is never easy as multiple interest groups jockey for advantage. But if elections were to be held, a level of law and order would have been maintained. This in turn won’t be possible if Karki cannot gain the confidence of the major political actors. The three biggest outfits in the just-dissolved Parliament—Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre)—as well as many of the smaller ones have denounced the decision to dissolve Parliament. It is up to Karki to assure them elections will be held on time and she will step down right after that.