Coalition's Common Goal

With seven-point agreement, the five ruling political parties have cemented their alliance, pledging to ensure good governance, inclusive development and social justice. As per their understanding, their lawmakers voted CPN-Maoist Centre lawmaker Narayan Prasad Dahal to the post of National Assembly’s chairman on Tuesday. On Wednesday, they gave vote of confidence to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda in a move to maintain stability and conclude the remaining tasks of the peace process in consensus. CPN-UML, Maoist Centre, Rastriya Swatantra Party, Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal and Nepal Communist Party (Unified Socialist) have come together to constitute the new coalition. It has replaced the Nepali Congress-Maoist Centre alliance. The seven-point accord was signed with the participation of Unified Socialist that was not brought on board earlier.

In their accord, the allies have decided to make a collaborative effort to make a departure from conventional political dynamics. This is the third time that the ruling alliance was created consisting of the political parties represented in the House of Representative (HoR) following three-tier elections held in November 2022. The elections produced a hung parliament largely due to the mixed electoral system that seeks to ensure the representation of marginal classes, communities and regions in the federal parliament. Inclusion is the cornerstone of new constitution promulgated in 2015. Written by the elected representatives, the national charter envisions a welfare state, with 31 fundamental rights of the citizens. The distribution of rights and powers among the three layers of government – local, provincial and federal – has brought structural changes. This has led to the judicious allocation of resources among the three-tier governments, which was not possible under the unitary system. 

In line with the constitution's vision, the new alliance has given priority to effectively implementing federalism that aims to guarantee the people's ownership of development works and crucial decision-making process while stressing the equitable development across all regions. Safeguarding national independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, it will work for democratic and socialism-oriented economic and social development. If implemented, this collective commitment put the nation on a transformative course. The alliance is poised to collaborate with political forces so as to streamline governance for more effective decision-making. It is indeed encouraging initiative to open communication channel with those parties outside the government. The political parties must come together in concluding the transitional justice process, thereby providing justice to the conflict victims.

The alliance partners have concurred to prepare a common minimum programme, highlighting the common objectives and guiding policies to address economic challenges and promoting national welfare. Running coalition government requires broader understanding and credible mechanisms to sort out differences that might crop up in course of implementing its policies and programmes. The political stability is the key to the socio-economic development. Frequent changes of the government affect the service delivery and development activities. Now the onus is on Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda and other leaders of parties in the alliance to deliver good governance, shared prosperity and predictable stability. PM Prachanda has said that he opted for a new alliance to change the gear of the government to meet the public expectations. Now the new dispensation needs to nurture coalition culture and muster the support of other parties in realising its common goals and vision.