ABSTRACT
The period 2009–10 was one of challenges and opportunities. There was no sign of the constitution — by the people, of the people and for the people — which was to be delivered within the rigidly fixed deadline of 28 May 2010. This was because the three big political parties — Nepali Congress, Communist Party of Nepal–Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN–UML) and the Unified Communist Party of Nepal–Maoists (UCPN–M)—jointly decided to give the House an additional year of life beyond the deadline. Nevertheless, the fate of the political system and its legitimacy, both at home and abroad, was under question.
