Struggle for small parties

By TNW correspondent

The general mood of the time just before local polls suggests that the small parties will have to struggle for maintaining their presence in politics.

According to a senior politician, they had faced similar situation in polls five years ago. “They could not improve their support base over time and now they are encountering struggle to exist.” Two factors – transactional politics and the trend to have poll partnership among big parties – are compelling the eclipse of fringe parties in Nepali politics, they explain. “Small parties had enjoyed power in the Constituent Assembly times. They were then considered important for balancing strength among the big parties.”

Today, however, big  parties’ alliances are in the forefront of politics and they appear popular as they approach the local polls. The ruling alliance and the opposition party alliance have maximum number of candidates for the forthcoming polls. The competition among them is serious. Small parties have not been able to play impressive role in campaign.

Political analysts say “small parties will from now on have to re-think about the existence of their parties. They will either have to work hard to broaden support base through appropriate political schemes and organizational skills or decide to get merged with big parties of their choice.”

Small parties will face further problems during the time when the parliamentary and provincial level elections are held towards the end of the year. “Those polls will be more competitive and challenging for small parties,” observed one analyst.