Throughout recent Nepali history, the extreme left and the extreme right have always shared a sense of common purpose.

Ever since king Mahendra coopted communists to counter the Congress in the 1960s, the autocratic monarchy and those with totalitarian ideals have seen democrats as their main enemy. The two have often colluded to squeeze the middle.

The Maoists were talking to the palace during Birendra's reign. And Gyanendra just followed Daddy's footsteps when he negotiated with Pushpa Kamal Dahal in January 2005 to divide up the spoils and sideline the parties. When these negotiations failed, Gyanendra staged his military-backed coup in February 2005. Dahal, who was ready to embrace an absolute monarchy, never forgave Gyanendra for double-crossing him.

But both are still untied by a deep loathing for the political parties and their fecklessness. They reason that Nepal can never be truly independent and would never prosper under a western-style democracy. Up to there, many in Nepal may actually agree with them because they have seen the parties squander hard-won freedoms.

What they forget is that we already tried absolute monarchy for 30 years, and it was worse. And direct royal rule after Feburary 2005 was an unmitigated disaster.

There are two forces that still don't want elections. The radical royal right because the polls will consign Nepal's 240 year-old monarchy to the history books, and the ultra left which foresees defeat in the polls and therefore wants to either scuttle it or usurp votes through threats. The Madhesi militants are also against elections, but don't have the nationwide network to disrupt voting.

There may not be collusion yet between these militancies but there is a convergence of interest. There is evidence the extreme right will stop at nothing to provoke communal violence through terrorist attacks like the one in Biratnagar on Saturday. With nothing left to lose, this lunatic fringe of Nepali politics may want to take the country down with it.

Ultra-radical Maoists, who always felt their leaders snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by engaging in the peace process, also want to sabotage elections. That is certainly the feeling one gets looking at their deliberate use of violence against candidates and threats against voters in the past months.

As argued last week in this space ('Their own worst enemy', #393) this tactic will backfire on the Maoist party and deprive it of a fairly decent showing in the polls. International observers and Nepali civil society should stop sitting in the sidelines and condemn YCL excesses in the strongest terms.

The Maoists are aiding and abetting the absolute monarchists by their actions. It is still not too late for comrades to stop using violent language in their election rallies. If they behave like mature politicians who believe in pluralism and democracy, who knows, they may be the kingmaker party.