ed by the Cabinet (Council of Ministers))
note: KOIRALA called the first sitting of the Constituent Assembly
on 28 May 2008
elections: last held 10 April 2008 (next to be held NA)
election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party -
CPN-M 220, NC 110, CPN-UML 103, Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum 52, Terai
Madhesi Democratic Party/Nepal Sadbhawana Party 29, other smaller
parties 61; note - 26 seats to be filled by the new Cabinet

Judicial branch:

Supreme Court or Sarbochha Adalat (chief justice is appointed by the
monarch on recommendation of the Constitutional Council; the other
judges are appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the
Judicial Council)

Political parties and leaders:

Chure Bhawar Rastriya Ekata Party [Keshav Prasad MAINALI]; Communist
Party of Nepal (Maoist) [Pushpa Kamal DAHAL, also known as
PRACHANDA, chairman; Dr. Baburam BHATTARAI]; Communist Party of
Nepal (ML) [C.P. MAINALI]; Communist Party of Nepal (Unified) [Raj
Singh SHRIS]; Communist Party of Nepal (United) [Ganesh SHAH];
Communist Party of Nepal/United Marxist-Leninist or CPN/UML [Amrit
Kumar BOHARA]; Dalit Janajati Party [Vishwendraman PASHWAN];
Janamorcha Nepal [Amik SHERCHAN]; Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum
[Upendra YADAV]; National Democratic Party or NDP [Pashupati
Shumsher RANA] (also called Rastriya Prajatantra Party or RPP);
Nepal Loktantrik Samajbadi Dal [Upendra GACHCHHADAR]; Nepal Pariwar
Dal [Vinod DANGI]; Nepal Rastriya Party [Khushilal YADAV]; Nepal
Sadbhavana Party (Anandi Devi) [Shyam Sundar GUPTA]; Nepal Workers
and Peasants Party or NWPP [Narayan Man BIJUKCHHE]; Nepali Congress
Party or NCP [Girija Prasad KOIRALA]; Nepali Janata Dal [Bharat
Prasad MAHATO]; Rastriya Janamorcha [Chitra BAHADUR K.C.]; Rastriya
Janamukti Party [Malwar Singh THAPA]; Rastriya Janashakti Party or
RJP [Surya Bahadur THAPA] (split from RPP in March 2005); Rastriya
Prajatantra Party Nepal [Kamal THAPA]; Sadbhavana Party (Mahato)
[Rajendra MAHATO]; Samajbadi Prajatantrik Janata Party Nepal [Prem
Bahadur SINGH]; Sanghiya Loktantrik Rastriya Manch [Kamal
CHHARAHANG]; Terai Madhesi Democratic Party [Mahantha THAKUR]

Political pressure groups and leaders:

other: several small armed Madhesi groups along the southern border
with India; a variety of groups advocating regional autonomy for
individual ethnic groups

International organization participation:

ADB, BIMSTEC, CP, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC