In well-oiled democracies public opinion polls are a vital part of governance, allowing elected leaders a chance to feel the public pulse and fine-tune policy. In Nepal, where the king has now been ruling directly or through hand-picked nominees since 2002 opinion polls serve the function of a referendum, or the real election we've not had for seven years.

What use, you may well ask, are public opinion polls when rulers have nothing but contempt for public opinion? But even dictators need feedback. History is littered with the ashes of despots and tyrants who only listened to sycophants and yes-men. They thought they could ignore public opinion and bamboozle their way with force of arms. Juntas with the mightiest armies, emperors backed by superpowers, ironfisted totalitarian comrades with nuclear weapons all fell to people power. They just didn't see the writing on the wall. Moral of the story: you can ignore all the people all the time, but not for long.

It is our sincere and well-meaning advice that our own regal regime carefully peruse the results of the nationwide survey that we print in these pages. Look at the message your people are sending you, read between the lines. "We don't like you," they are saying, "but we may still need a symbolic crown." But if this drags on, next year's opinion poll may not even leave open that option.

It will be tempting for the king, parties and the Maoists to selectively cull the results and take only what they like. But they should make no mistake about it: the Nepali people have given up on all three of you. To regain their trust you have to do as they say. They are telling you to get together, form an interim government and restore peace. They've had enough of the war and instability you have waged in their name. Less than one percent of the people want an absolute monarchy. More and more young people believe Nepal can do without a monarchy, but the majority still wants to give constitutional monarchy a chance.

The message to the Maoists is clear: if you give up arms we may even consider voting you to power. What are you waiting for, comrades? Don't you know that the longer you wait the more ammunition you give to the royal regime to crackdown on democracy? A ceasefire announcement would not just defuse next week's showdown but remove the pretext for militarisation.

The Nepali people have spoken and they have shown us once again how integrated clear-headed they are. They reject extremism and violence outright, and support democracy and the middle path. They know that is the only way they can get on with their lives.