People have voted for change in Nepal – the change in the quality of politics with stability and the change in the lives of the people with good development. We have had enough bad politics that people now want change.

The Left Alliance, comprising of CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center), has secured a major victory in the provincial and federal elections. Their agenda of political stability and development was appealing to the voters. They had a common manifesto and they also announced a merger of the two parties after the elections.

Before and after the elections, I have travelled different districts. It’s clear that people now want more development, better development, inclusive development. People want immediate formation of a new government and immediate start of visible development works within 3 months.

The formation of the new government is likely to be delayed further as the dispute over ordinance concerning the formation of the National Assembly continues between the ruling Nepali Congress and the Left alliance. The ordinance includes the provision of single transferable electoral system, which is pending at the President’s Office. Such system would give advantage to Nepali Congress because surplus votes of one member will be transferred to another member, as opposed to majority system that would benefit the Left Alliance.

The controversy over the ordinance is the byproduct of faulty provisions in the Constitution. People are not happy with legal advisors to the political parties for not sorting out such issue as black and white in the Constitution. The formation of the new government has to be straightforward. Personally, I see that the Left Alliance should be able to form the new government ahead of the National Assembly elections. And the new government should bring a fresh ordinance in consultation with all key political parties.

If not, the political parties should find a middle path to clear the current ordinance so that there is win-win amongst them. The current political mess is the issue of who gains and who loses.

People have suffered a lot in the name of politics. Now, people want less politics and more development. The current political dispute is not a good sign of quality politics to contribute to political stability and development in Nepal. The political parties should rise above win-lose attitudes and work together on national agendas for development, international relations and foreign investment.

More I think, more I feel that the restructuring of political parties is necessary as the country moves forward with the restructuring of the State to address people’s development needs. The political parties should exercise more internal democracy, more inclusiveness and more financial transparency within them. And, they should exercise a culture of tolerance and cooperation on major issues.

The country cannot be managed in crisis management mode all the times. Now it’s a time to develop coherent national policy, strategy and programs to address underlying causes of poverty and inequality, and employment and economy for all. People have high hope the Left Alliance can take a lead and also bring the opposition on development agenda.

Until the next elections, we need less politics and more development!