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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Nepal
Index
By royal proclamation on December 16, 1962, King
Mahendra
announced a new constitution that radically reformed the
1959
constitution but also adopted many features of the Rana
system
(see
The Panchayat System under King Mahehdra
, ch. 1;
The Administrative System
, this ch.). Known as the Panchayat Constitution, it
was the
fourth constitution in fifteen years.
The panchayat system was an institution of great
antiquity. Historically, each caste group system of Nepal
formed
its own panchayat, or council of elders, a
sociopolitical
organization operational on a village level that could
expand to
include neighboring districts, or even function on a zonal
basis.
Although it could be argued that the panchayat
system was
adopted from India, King Mahendra had argued for its
incorporation
at the national level as an exponent of Nepalese
culture--a worthy
and historically correct representation of cultural
expression.
The 1962 constitution was based on some elements from
other
"guided democracy" constitutional experiments--notably
"Basic
Democracy" in Pakistan, "Guided Democracy" in Indonesia,
and the
"Dominant Party System" in Egypt. The Panchayat
constitution not
only codified the irrelevance of political parties, but
also
declared them illegal.
The 1962 constitution contained a stronger and more
explicit
statement of royal authority than did previous
constitutions. Real
power remained with the king, who was the sole source of
authority
and had the power not only to amend the constitution but
also to
suspend it by royal proclamation during emergencies. The
Council of
Ministers, selected from the members of the legislative
(Rashtriya
Panchayat, or National Panchayat), served as an advisory
body to
the king. Members of the Rashtriya Panchayat were elected
indirectly by the members of local panchayat as
well as by
the members of professional and class organizations such
as the
Nepal Workers' Organization, the Nepal Ex-servicemen's
Organization, and the Nepal Youth Organization. The
constitution
abolished all political parties.
Data as of September 1991
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