Among all the challenges before us in the constitution drafting process, perhaps the most daunting will be the lack of political cooperation between the parties.

The democratic alliance of 2006 finally broke down after the NC decided to stay in the opposition after its election defeat. But the UML-Maoist marriage of convenience is also rocky, and there is no love lost among other members of the coalition. The Maoists themselves are not even bothering to hide their internal strife, and are playing it out in the full glare of media as they postpone their cadre conference yet again.

Disagreements are necessary in a democracy. Finding a compromise between dissenting opinion is what gives a pluralistic democracy its creative, problem-solving edge. But this works only if there is a common goal, a destination for the nation on which there is a consensus. Our leaders should have listened carefully to the speeches by the presidential rivals after the results were announced in the US elections this week.

In Nepal, politicians have never really shown the ability to agree to disagree. It is as if a point of disagreement, however minor, must lead to an irreparable divorce. The democratic parties, it has to be said, have been self-centred and self-serving. The left has also split regularly, reflecting divides in the global communist movement.

The NC may want to play the loyal opposition to keep the Maoists from straying from the democratic path, but there has to be a minimum understanding on the parameters? a mutually agreed set of rules that facilitates the writing of the new constitution before the April 2010 deadline. There can be no sabotaging of this critical component of the peace process.

The NC has refused to agree to full integration of the PLA into the national army, demanded the YCL be disbanded, a return of all confiscated property and adherence to the rule of law. There is also the larger concern about the Maoists' commitment to pluralistic democracy. The Maoist leadership may be inclined to strike a deal, but is prevented from doing so by its own rank and file.

And until the NC and Maoists can agree on these points, the constitution-writing process will face obstacles at every step even if gets started in the coming weeks.

There can be a win-win solution to this, but only if the NC and Maoists remind themselves of the larger national interest, and that in a democracy you lose some and win some.