Following the super-flawed municipal elections held last week, the Supreme Court in Nepal has decided that the Royal Commission for Corruption Control, setup by royal decree soon after King Gyanendra took power one year ago, is completely unconstitutional and all decisions made by it are annulled. This is a major blow to the King and a major step back onto the path of democracy and the rule of law. He justified the commission by stating that it would be used to weed out corruption in the government, but instead it was used as his personal eight-man search and destroy party that focused all of its efforts on jailing hundreds of pro-democracy politicians and activists.

This ruling by the Supreme Court is, basically, a precedent to challenge everything the King has done up to this point, including the suspension of parliament and even his power itself. Those hundreds that were imprisoned are effectively free now. What will be interesting to see from this point on is what future decisions the court makes and how they further hit at the King’s power. When combined with the continuing surge of protest against his regime, perhaps it won’t be too long before it breaks apart completely.

United we Blog! seems pleased with the decision.

Paramendra Bhagat is even more pleased. Be sure to read his post.