With less than four months left for the extended deadline for a new constitution, more than seven months have gone into waste in search of a new prime minister. A fresh round of what still looks an uncertain search is due this week. The parliament’s election regulations have been amended in an attempt to avoid the futile voting that marred the last round of elections for the top executive office. The promise of the three major parties – the Maoists, the Congress and the UML – to forge a consensus has already come a cropper. The drama has now shifted to forming a ‘consensus-based’ majority government. But who should head it first has divided the parties so deeply that hopes of a breakthrough is still suspect. The underlying cause of the stalemate is the long-running deep mistrust which we have time and again referred to in our previous issues. We have taken a fresh look at it in our cover story this time. Over the past few days, there had been signs of hopes only to be dashed soon after. But we discovered to our utter dismay the political parties, for reasons best known to them, are not serious in avoiding the bitter past and ensuring a sweet future. They, instead, appear gearing up for a showdown in which no national forces can hope to emerge a winner. Who will end up the winner is anybody’s guess.
Keshab Poudel
Editor