The swearing-in of the prime minister took place an absurd four months after his party was elected, but that wasn't a complete waste of time.

In the ceremony at the Rastrapati Bhaban on Monday the Big Four parties were represented (from left to right) by a Forum vice-president, a Kangresi president, a Maoist prime minister and a UML chairman of the Assembly. There was an elegant symmetry to this balance of power between the four main parties. It took time and a lot of unseemly wheeling dealing to achieve, but in the end it was the best outcome.

This four-cornered equilibrium lays the foundation for stable politics in the two years to come, but does not guarantee it. The lengthy bargaining over ministerial berths this week is already an indication that the path ahead is not easy. But at least for that we have a deadline: the line-up has to be agreed upon before the prime minister goes for the Olympics on Saturday.

The NC being in the opposition could be a positive thing if it serves a check-and-balance function. But if it plays the knee-jerk politics of tyre-burning and bandhs of the late 1990s, that will be a disservice to the people and the constitution-building process. The NC mustn't lose sight of the real issue here, which is to ensure stable government so that the drafting of a new constitution can take place with minimum disruption. As a loyal opposition, the NC can temper Maoist temptations towards adventurism, populism, opportunism and utopianism.

The challenge for Pushpa Kamal Dahal is to extend the effective role he played in the past two years in keeping his own party together when it was on the verge of mutiny to now keeping his alliance together.

This will not be easy. After all, the Forum was formed in January 2007 to serve as a political blowtorch to wipe the Maoists off the eastern Tarai. Every domestic, regional and international anti-Maoist player had a hand in propping up the Forum, and the plan worked.

Communist parties throughout history, in Nepal and elsewhere, have always loathed the lefties immediately to the right of them. The Maoists have no love lost for the UML and vice-versa. This makes the Maoists, MJF and UML alliance fragile.

We don't want to make a self-fulfilling prophecy here about the next two years. We don't want write in June 2010 "we told you so". Let's all help this government to last, ensure stability and kick-start the economy so that the Assembly can get on with its job of drafting the new constitution.