Nepal’s Maoists must dissolve their paramilitary forces, return private property and respect the separation of powers before they can lead a coalition government, the country’s finance minister has told Emerging Markets.
Ram Sharan Mahat, finance minister in the current transitional government, is a leading member of the Nepali Congress (NC), which came second to the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) in elections on April 10.
No party has an absolute majority. Negotiations are in progress between the Maoists, the NC and five smaller parties on forming a coalition government that will draft a new constitution for the war-torn Himalayan nation.
In 2006, the embattled King Gyanendra restored the parliament he had dissolved the previous year, and then the Maoists ended their decade-long armed insurgency. They are now seeking to abolish the monarchy peacefully, and last year they joined an interim cabinet with six other parties.
Mahat, who was injured after a Maoist attack on a party rally in April, said it was a make or break time in Nepalese history and called on the former rebels to renounce violence that he alleged was widespread during the April election.
“We have had reports that regional party members have been told to use intimidation and violence,” he said. “If the Maoists continue with this and try to impose one party autocratic rule it will be disastrous for the country.”
Mahat said his party was divided on whether to join a Maoist-led government. While “our party members are not too happy with the many concessions we have made in the past,” they nevertheless want to preserve the peace process. A decision is expected in the next month or so, he suggested.
He was also encouraged after the US ambassador to Nepal met Maoist leader Prachanda this Friday despite Washington listing the party as a terrorist organization.
“The US will use their leverage to force the Maoists to act in a constitutional manner and that is good thing.”
Mahat expressed confidence that the Maoists would pursue capitalist policies despite its revolutionary rhetoric.
“They will have to accept the imperative of market reforms as this is the only way you can increase income opportunities,” he said, citing the example of market-oriented China and Vietnam.
He argued that Nepal’s aid dependency, combined with the realities of governing in a coalition, would force the Maoists to embrace liberal reforms, highlighting their acceptance of foreign investment in the hydropower industry.
Nevertheless, he argued that populist policies the former rebels were calling for, including large-scale loans to farmers, agricultural employment programmes and free education were not “sustainable”.