Nepal, Jan. 8 -- Barring a surprise ruling from the Supreme Court against the dissolution of the House of Representatives, it seems quite certain that we will soon be fully immersed in election season. Unfortunately, where the expectation of a fresh popular mandate for a new government should have engendered hope for the future, things are increasingly beginning to look more like the past. Instead of a dramatic makeover of the political system that one dreamt possible for a brief instant after the Gen Z revolt, even cosmetic changes are quite scant.

Nearly 400 years ago, sick of the prevarications of parliament during the brief phase of republicanism in England, Oliver Cromwell castigated it with these immortal words: "You have sat too l...