Nepal’s prime minister calls for king’s resignation

News reports on June 19 stated that Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala suggested that “monarchy can be allowed to

continue” if both King Gyanendra and Crown Prince Paras abdicate ahead of the upcoming constitutional elections. Crown Prince Hridayendra, not yet five years old, would assume the throne in a ceremonial role.

“The prime minister’s remarks prove that both he and his party are not in favor of a republic,” said Prachanda, the leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). “It also shows that he is trying to save the monarchy.”

The CPN-M led strikes and protests in a tactical union with the bourgeois Seven Party Alliance that pushed back Gyanendra’s repressive measures and neutralized his power in April 2006. A constituent assembly to be elected this November will decide the fate of the monarchy.