On December 20, Nepal’s President Bidya Devi Bhandari dissolved the country’s lower house of the parliament on Prime Minister KP Oli’s recommendation, raising concerns about the future of the country’s constitutional democracy. Oli’s decision has been criticised for undermining democratic norms. An overwhelming majority of legal experts declared it to be unconstitutional.
Importantly, it has been opposed by a significant section of his own party. Oli’s decision follows an extended conflict within his ruling Nepal Communist Party, formed in 2018 after the merger of the erstwhile Maoist party and United Marxist Leninist Party. Anticipating a vote of no confidence by the majority of his own party’s legislators, Oli moved to scrap the house and call for early elections amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
After a decade-long process of contested constitution-writing, many had hoped that the new government elected in 2017 would mark a path to political stability. Oli,…