Nepal’s new ruling coalition will be unstable

Significance

His Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) now has fewer governing partners. The reconfiguration included cutting ties with Sher Bahadur Deuba’s Nepali Congress, the largest player in parliament’s lower house, and joining hands with KP Sharma Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist).

Impacts

• Although more parties may join the new governing alliance, that would not make it any less susceptible to collapse.
• Deuba’s party will be a vociferous critic of the administration from the opposition benches, raising the political temperature.
• The instability that has marked Nepali politics for decades will continue to distract from policymaking in government.