A clean sweep

This morning I drove past a Standard Chartered Bank signboard praising "Magnficent, Mystical Nepal". Now another "M" can be added to that; Maoist. For the Maoist party has enjoyed a landslide success following Thursday's polls. Through the ballot box they have won a battle that they were incapable of winning militarily - the conquest of Kathmandu valley. The scale of the Maoist victory has surprised everyone, probably even the Maoists themselves. There isn't the slightest question of vote rigging and there was a remarkably good turn out considering the logistical difficulties of getting to election booths in Nepal. So what has happened? My suspicion is that this has been in large part a protest vote against the mainstream parties who have done so little for the electorate in the past. Now another party is being given a chance to deliver on promises and at least while the Maoists are in power there will be no return to violence for the war-weary population.

Maoist Chairman Prachanda is already sending out reassurances to potentially unsettled foreign stakeholders that the Maoists will follow a constructive path and I really hope they can. At the end of the day we are all (development organisations included) aiming to make society a better place and to help the downtrodden, although our methods have differed somewhat in the past. There is such a need for social reform in Nepal that it can only really be fully addressed by action from central government. Organisations like mine can only nibble at the edges of issues like the trafficking problem and child labour, hoping that through our advocacy and example others more powerful will intervene. Now the Maoists can do something that really would be revolutionary in Nepal.


This afternoon I took a little trip out to Dwarika's Shangri La Resort in Dhulikhel, about one hour's drive out of Kathmandu. It was great to escape the filth of town for a few hours and to see in the Nepalese new year with a drink, a dal bhat (lentils and rice) and the sound of the cuckoo.