Panchayat system

Nepal’s partyless political system, established under King Mahendra’s 1962 constitution and ended during the 1990 democratic movement. It combined elected local councils with centralized royal authority.

Constitution of Nepal 1962: Nepal’s constitution promulgated by King Mahendra in 1962, which established the Panchayat political system. It gave the system its constitutional structure and formally prohibited political parties.
King Mahendra: King of Nepal from 1955 to 1972, who dissolved parliament and established the Panchayat system. He designed and imposed the system after ending multiparty parliamentary government.
King Birendra: King of Nepal from 1972 to 2001, who inherited the Panchayat system and ended it in 1990. He initially upheld Panchayat rule, then accepted multiparty democracy amid nationwide protests.
1990 Nepalese revolution: A mass pro-democracy movement in Nepal that compelled King Birendra to legalize political parties and restore parliamentary government. Its protests ended the Panchayat system and forced the monarchy to accept constitutional change.
Multiparty democracy: A political system in which multiple parties compete for public office through elections. It was the system’s prohibited alternative and the central demand of the 1990 movement.
National Panchayat: The national legislature under Nepal’s Panchayat system, composed of representatives selected through its controlled electoral structure. It was the system’s central legislative body, but could not challenge the king’s supremacy.
1960 Nepalese coup d'état: King Mahendra’s seizure of power in December 1960, which dissolved Nepal’s elected government and banned political parties. The coup created the political conditions for the Panchayat system’s constitutional establishment.
B. P. Koirala: Nepali Congress leader and Nepal’s first elected prime minister, imprisoned after Mahendra’s 1960 coup. His political career and resistance embodied the opposition that the partyless system sought to exclude.
Constitution of Nepal 1990: Nepal’s constitution promulgated in 1990, which established a multiparty parliamentary system and constitutional monarchy. It formally replaced the Panchayat order with parliamentary democracy and recognized political parties.
Constitutional monarchy: A monarchy in which the ruler’s powers are limited by a constitution and exercised alongside representative institutions. The system’s formal councils contrasted with its concentration of decisive power in the king.

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