What history shows: Nepal’s strongest governments fall to top leaders’ feuds
Summary
Nepal's strongest governments have repeatedly fallen due to internal rivalries among top leaders, despite strong electoral mandates. This pattern of personal feuds undermining parliamentary majorities has been a persistent cause of political instability since Nepal's democratic restoration.
Key Points
- No majority government in Nepal's modern democratic history has completed a full five-year term, primarily due to internal leadership rivalries.
- The 2017 super-majority formed by the Communist Party of Nepal collapsed quickly due to personal power struggles between KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
- Nepali Congress majorities in the 1990s were undermined by factional fights among leaders like Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Girija Prasad Koirala, and Sher Bahadur Deuba.
- Strong electoral mandates in Nepal often fail to ensure government stability because of weak coordination between party and government leadership and fragile power-sharing.
