Nepal Votes for Peace

The book is concerned with the peace process in Nepal which began in 2005 and studies the challenges to the Nepalese polity referring to the April 2008 constituent assembly elections which were held after two postponements. It discusses the political context of the elections, beginning with King Gyanendra’s takeover on February 1, 2005 that triggered sweeping changes. Presenting short biographies of political actors who were instrumental in the constituent assembly election process, it takes up the reasons for the postponements of the elections and the behind-the-scenes negotiations conducted. It outlines the role of the national and international actors like the United Nations that contributed to the successful holding of the elections. It analyses the dissolution of the constituent assembly in May 2012, after four years of political negotiations, and thus the delay in transition of the country from a traditional centralised unitary state into a modern federal state.