Like pregnancy, one can't be half-democratic, especially in a country like ours that has lived through and fought against feudalism, autocracy and dictatorship. 
The argument that somehow we Nepalis are not mature enough to have democracy or that only authoritarianism will enforce the discipline necessary for economic growth just does not hold water. We tried dictatorship throughout most of our modern history and it was disastrous. The 1990-2000 period, despite political instability, allowed grassroots democracy and accountability to be the proven pre-requisite to development.
We have disagreed with Maoist methods in the past, but the party has taken a considerable risk by steering the revolution towards a non-violent path. For this, the Nepali people rewarded them by making the Maoists the largest party in the assembly. But by not giving them the majority, the people were also saying: look, we don't completely trust you yet. And, of course, the people punished the two established parties for their failures of governance and in service delivery and rejected all monarchists.
The current political stalemate is unnecessary and can easily be resolved by agreeing on a two year moratorium on voting out the government, and by agreeing on a non-political figure as president.
The NC and UML need to snap out of their collective self-induced depression and stop acting like they want to exact revenge for their own failures. True, there was widespread cheating and intimidation but let he who hasn't sinned cast the first stone.
The Maoists, for their part, are behaving as if they have an absolute majority. With one-third of the seats in parliament, one can say the Maoists were successful, but they certainly weren't victorious. They should stop acting like they were.
Their leadership must also cease making reckless references to "October Revolution", "People's Republic" and publicly threaten the media. Explaining away these deadly serious threats by saying the chairman was "joking" has itself become a joke. Everyone knows Dahal is sorely wanting in the humour department.
All the political parties should not lose sight of the goal here: writing up a new constitution in the next two years and in that period bringing some relief to the Nepali people who have uncomplainingly suffered a brutal war and government neglect for the past 12 years.
The Maoists have had more than enough time to make their political transition. We now want them to publicly renounce violence and show by words and deeds their commitment to democracy and pluralism. There can be no half-way.
