News update from Nepal, 1 May 2006 News Update from Nepal 1 May 2006 Second Democratic Transition 18 people were killed and 5,000 were wounded during a mass political movement from April 6 th till 24 th , which was organized by the seven-party alliance(SPA), the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist(CPN-Maoist) and civil society organizations. On April 24 th , King Gyanendra announced that he would hand over power back to the people and restore the parliament he dissolved on May 22, 2002 on recommendation of then Prime Minis­ter Sher B. Deuba. He also invited the agitating Seven Party Alliance(SPA) to form the government. The restoration of the parliament is one of the key demands of the SPA, which came to an agreement with the Maoist rebels on November 20, 2005 to oppose the Royal coup. After the announcements on Nepali New Years Day(April 14) and on April 21, he again stated some liberal measures in public. On the recommendation of the SPA, the King appointed the ailing Nepali Congress(NC) President G.P. Koirala (85) as Prime Minister. The parliament resumed its operation on April 28 and as per the motion tabled by Prime Minister Koirala, it decided to“go for an election to a Constituent Assembly(CA) in order to draft a new constitution.” Accordingly, on April 30, the House of Representatives unanimously passed the proposal for calling an election to a CA. However, this has not solved Nepal’s deep-rooted political crisis. Rather it gave the frac­tious SPA leadership crucial tasks: to facilitate the second democratic transition(the first was heralded in 1990), to form a government from the parliament, to define the future of the king, to facilitate a peace dialogue with the CPN(Maoists) and to manage the arms of the rebels, to form an interim government including the CPN(Maoist) to hold election for the CA and to undertake major structural reforms to satisfy the aspiration of a di­verse society. The SPA and CPN(Maoist) have already agreed on a four-point roadmap – a reinstated parliament deciding elections to the CA, an agenda to implement the 12­point agreement with the Maoists, an interim government officially inviting the Maoists for discussions, and the parliament taking legislative steps to undo the laws adopted by King Gyanendra after his coup d’ état. Political Dynamics While signing the 12-point agreement with the CPN(Maoist), the SPA had given them the assurance that they will announce the formation of the CA election to draft a new constitution once the parliament would resume its operation. Due to the fractious nature of the SPA- from moderate political parties, such as Nepali Congress(NC) or the Com­munist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist(CPN-UML), to radical left United Peo­ple’s Front(UPF) which causes intractable ideological and policy differences, it will be difficult for them to consensually form the government and define the nature of the CA. Padma Ratna Tuladhar, a prominent human rights activist, expressed his ire,“it was civil society who convinced people to take part in the movement when the masses were 1