The spree of party mergers in leftist, centrist and alternative groups triggered by the Gen Z uprising of September has continued for a month. Almost every day, one or the other group announces their merger or alignment.

Pro-monarchy forces, however, stand further divided, casting doubt on their ability to make any impact during the March 5 parliamentary elections.

There are a number of parties and groups who advocate the restoration of the monarchy and Hindu state abolished in 2008.

After the declaration of Nepal as a secular republic from the Constituent Assembly following the success of the people’s movement, various royalist groups continued protests against the abolition of the over 240-year-old institution.

However, the groups have not been able to form a single unified force despite sharing similar political agenda.

After prolonged negotiations and initiatives taken from multiple traditional forces, several royalist groups held a joint protest in Kathmandu’s Tinkune on March 28 early this year. Two people were killed and massive damage was caused after the protesters vandalised and set fire to public as well as private properties.

The movement collapsed on the first day.

Although a ‘people’s movement’ was declared from May 28 again under the leadership of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party with participation from various other pro-monarchy groups, it gained no momentum due to disagreements between the groups.

The Gen Z uprising of September 8 and 9 toppled the Congress-UML government and led to the formation of an interim administration. Upon being appointed prime minister of the interim government, Sushila Karki dissolved the House of Representatives and announced fresh elections on March 5.

The development inspired many political groups to merge and form bigger forces.

The CPN (Maoist Centre) and the CPN (Unified Socialist) recently merged to form the Nepali Communist Party. Over a dozen leftist factions have joined the unified force.

Only on Sunday, two parties that claim to represent alternative politics, the Rastriya Swatantra Party and the Bibeksheel Sajha Party, also united. Several other parties formed after the Gen Z movement have decided to forge electoral alliances with parties that share similar ideologies.

But the royalist groups remain as divided as ever.

Presently the Rastriya Prajantra Party led by Rajendra Lingden, the Rastriya Prajantra Party-Nepal led by Kamal Thapa, a newly formed Nagarik Bachau Dal in which Durga Prasain is the patron and the Gen Z Alliance for Monarchy are some of the groups campaigning for the restoration of monarchy.

Apart from them, a group led by former minister Keshar Bahadur Bista and Congress Democratic led by Bipin Koirala also seek to reestablish the Hindu monarchy.

On November 27, the RPP formed a committee comprising party leaders Buddhi Man Tamang, Bikram Panday and Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan to pursue unity, alliances, and cooperation with like-minded parties, campaigns, groups, and individuals.

RPP leaders said there is a sentiment that they should cooperate with like-minded parties, but no concrete initiative to that end has been found.

“Our party has formed a dialogue committee to coordinate with groups that share similar ideology, but there is room to question how effective it will be,” an RPP leader said.

“Because of internal disputes, even party leaders themselves doubt whether they can effectively bring like-minded individuals together, despite being the largest organisation within this bloc.”

On the disputes within the RPP, the party’s general secretary, Dhawal Shumsher Rana, said that an environment has not been created in which like-minded groups can come together under one umbrella to contest elections due to issues among the top leaders. A power struggle has been going on between RPP chair Rajendra Lingden and General Secretary Rana for a long time.

“The party leadership failed to make timely decisions. Nevertheless, we have formed a committee to try to bring like-minded groups together. Let us hope something will come out of it,” Rana said.

Madhav Kalpit, chair of the Nagarik Bachau Dal, a party patronised by Durga Prasai, said they are ready to cooperate with parties that share their views. Kalpit acknowledged that neither his party nor any other side has taken any such initiative so far.

“We are new to politics; it’s only a few days ago that we received party registration and an election symbol from the Election Commission. Still, we are ready to cooperate with parties that share our views,” Kalpit said.

It’s true that despite having different factions in the pro-monarchy group, they have not been able to come under a single umbrella, said Sanatan Rijal, a representative of the Gen Z for Monarchy. Though their group is not considering contesting the March 5 election as they claim their purpose is not politics but only the advocacy for reinstating the monarchy, they see room for pro-monarchy factions to be together.

“We are considering working from our side to bring the different factions of pro-monarchy parties and groups together for the election,” Rijal said. “The way the monarchy was abruptly abolished from the country 17 years ago was not a good decision. We want all pro-monarchy forces to come together and establish our agenda.”

Prasai has his own grudges.

He complains that although he had been fighting for the monarchy and a Hindu state for three years, former king Gyanendra Shah had remained inactive, and even the other pro-monarchy groups had shown double standards.

“For the same reason, the movement has not reached a conclusion,” Prasai said at a press conference on Saturday.

Prasai also expressed his discontent that the former king did not even issue a statement when he was arrested for holding protests demanding monarchy.