Nepal King Returns Power to People

After weeks of violent protests and brutal suppression of same, Nepal’s King Gyanendra has abruptly shifted course and will now turn power over to the political parties.

Nepal’s King Gyanendra said on Friday he was handing over power to political parties and asked them to recommend a new prime minister. “Executive power of the kingdom of Nepal, which was in our safekeeping, shall from this day be returned to the people,” he said in Nepali in an address to the nation. “We ask the seven-party alliance to recommend the name for the post of prime minister at the earliest.”

Surprising and excellent news. It will be interesting to get the back story to this.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. DC Loser says:

    The King is doing a 180 because the Maoist insurgency shows no sign of slowing down and he doesn’t want to be blamed for that disaster when it happens. Also, he didn’t count on the demonstrations against his rule getting out of hand and the inability of the police to control the crowds.

  2. Matt says:

    The whole thing is a shame. I visited Nepal when my brother was living there and it was almost paradise.