He could do little to prevent the rise of an increasingly cohesive parliamentary opposition.

Fifteen months on, his government has carried - by an unusual procedural manoeuvre to bypass parliamentary opposition - a bill to liberalise the economy.

He never understood the purpose of parliamentary opposition.

The logical route was to shift from clandestine opposition to a carefully organised parliamentary opposition and use the time to build cadres throughout the country.

But the parliamentary opposition rejected her power-sharing offer and effectively called for a new caretaker government, leaving her isolated for her final year in office.