n a bloody shooting at the royal palace on 1 June 2001 that also
claimed the lives of most of the royal family; King BIRENDRA's son,
Crown Price DIPENDRA, is believed to have been responsible for the
shootings before fatally wounding himself; immediately following the
shootings and while still clinging to life, DIPENDRA was crowned king;
he died three days later and was succeeded by his uncle

Legislative branch: note: Nepal's Parliament was dissolved on 22 May 2002
and elections are scheduled for 13 November 2002 : bicameral Parliament
consists of the National Council (60 seats; 35 appointed by the House of
Representatives, 10 by the king, and 15 elected by an electoral college;
one-third of the members elected every two years to serve six-year terms)
and the House of Representatives (205 seats; members elected by popular
vote to serve five-year terms) election results: House of Representatives
- percent of vote by party - NC 37.3%, CPN/UML 31.6%, NDP 10.4%, NSP
3.2%, Rastriya Jana Morcha 1.4%, Samyukta Janmorcha Nepal 0.8%, NWPP
0.5%, others 14.8%; seats by party - NC 113, CPN/UML 69, NDP 11, NSP 5,
Rastriya Jana Morcha 5, Samyukta Janmorcha Nepal 1, NWPP 1 elections:
House of Representatives - last held 3 and 17 May 1999 (next to be held
13 November 2002)

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: Communist Party of Nepal/United
Marxist-Leninist or CPN/UML [Madhav Kumar NEPAL, general secretary];
National Democratic Party or NDP (also called Rastriya Prajantra
Party or RPP) [Surya Bahadur THAPA, chairman]; National People's Front
(Rastriya Jana Morcha) [Chitra Bahadur, chairman]; Nepal Sadbhavana
(Goodwill) Party or NSP [Bhadri Prasad MANDAL, acting party president];
Nepal Workers and Peasants Party or NWPP [Narayan Man BIJUKCHHE, party
chair]; Nepali Congress or NC [Girija Prasad KOIRALA, party president,
Sushil KOIRALA, general secretary]; Samyukta Janmorcha Nepal [Lila Mani
POKHAREL, general secretary]

Political pressure groups and leaders: Maoist guerrilla-based insurgency;
numerous small, left-leaning student groups in the capital; several small,
radical Nepalese antimonarchist groups

International organization participation: AsDB, CCC, CP, ESCAP, FAO,
G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICF