<p>Kathmandu: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/nepal">Nepal</a> is set to vote on Thursday in a pivotal general election that comes months after historic protests led to the resignation of the government.</p><p>The landlocked Himalayan nation has been riven by <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/india/india-politics">political</a> instability for decades, with 32 governments taking office since 1990 and none of them completing a five-year-term.</p><p>Here is a brief history of the volatility of Nepali politics:</p><p><strong>Constitutional Monarchy</strong></p><p>Nepal was ruled by monarchs from various dynasties, until 1951 when a parliamentary democracy was established.</p><p>A decade later, King Mahendra suspended the constitution and banned political parties. His son, King Birendra, retained full control of the country till 1990, when the absolute monarchy was reduced to a constitutional one.</p><p>In elections in 1991 and 1999, the centrist Nepali Congress - the country's oldest political party - won a clear majority required to form the government, but did not last its full term either time because of internal and inter-party squabbling.</p><p>A period of political flux followed. King Birendra and eight other royals were killed in a 2001 palace massacre by his son, Crown Prince Dipendra, who later turned the gun on himself, according to an official inquiry.</p><p>Tired of fickle politicians and the threat of a growing Maoist insurgency in the hinterland, King Birendra's successor Gyanendra took power himself in 2005, only to be overthrown a year later following street protests against his action.</p><p>A national unity government headed by the Nepali Congress took power in 2006 and lasted two years.</p>.Security agencies say Nepal fully prepared for March 5 polls. <p><strong>Post-Monarchy Republic</strong> </p><p>In 2008, a special assembly dominated by former Maoist rebels, who joined mainstream politics under a peace deal, voted to abolish the 239-year-old monarchy.</p><p>The Communist Party of Nepal faction controlled by the former rebels then took power, but the shift to a republic failed to create political stability.</p><p>There have been 15 changes in government since, as power circulated between the former Maoist rebels' party, the moderate Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) and the Nepali Congress.</p><p>In 2015, a new constitution came into force, after two constituent assemblies worked on the document for over seven years. This, too, was unable to produce durable administrations.</p><p>The fractured politics led to widespread public apathy, reinforcing a popular perception that Nepal's corrupt political class cared little for the plight of ordinary citizens - among the poorest in the world.</p><p>Last September, a simmering online anti-corruption movement exploded into youth-led street protests that forced out the government led by Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli of the Communist Party of Nepal (UML).</p>
<p>Kathmandu: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/nepal">Nepal</a> is set to vote on Thursday in a pivotal general election that comes months after historic protests led to the resignation of the government.</p><p>The landlocked Himalayan nation has been riven by <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/india/india-politics">political</a> instability for decades, with 32 governments taking office since 1990 and none of them completing a five-year-term.</p><p>Here is a brief history of the volatility of Nepali politics:</p><p><strong>Constitutional Monarchy</strong></p><p>Nepal was ruled by monarchs from various dynasties, until 1951 when a parliamentary democracy was established.</p><p>A decade later, King Mahendra suspended the constitution and banned political parties. His son, King Birendra, retained full control of the country till 1990, when the absolute monarchy was reduced to a constitutional one.</p><p>In elections in 1991 and 1999, the centrist Nepali Congress - the country's oldest political party - won a clear majority required to form the government, but did not last its full term either time because of internal and inter-party squabbling.</p><p>A period of political flux followed. King Birendra and eight other royals were killed in a 2001 palace massacre by his son, Crown Prince Dipendra, who later turned the gun on himself, according to an official inquiry.</p><p>Tired of fickle politicians and the threat of a growing Maoist insurgency in the hinterland, King Birendra's successor Gyanendra took power himself in 2005, only to be overthrown a year later following street protests against his action.</p><p>A national unity government headed by the Nepali Congress took power in 2006 and lasted two years.</p>.Security agencies say Nepal fully prepared for March 5 polls. <p><strong>Post-Monarchy Republic</strong> </p><p>In 2008, a special assembly dominated by former Maoist rebels, who joined mainstream politics under a peace deal, voted to abolish the 239-year-old monarchy.</p><p>The Communist Party of Nepal faction controlled by the former rebels then took power, but the shift to a republic failed to create political stability.</p><p>There have been 15 changes in government since, as power circulated between the former Maoist rebels' party, the moderate Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) and the Nepali Congress.</p><p>In 2015, a new constitution came into force, after two constituent assemblies worked on the document for over seven years. This, too, was unable to produce durable administrations.</p><p>The fractured politics led to widespread public apathy, reinforcing a popular perception that Nepal's corrupt political class cared little for the plight of ordinary citizens - among the poorest in the world.</p><p>Last September, a simmering online anti-corruption movement exploded into youth-led street protests that forced out the government led by Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli of the Communist Party of Nepal (UML).</p>