 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Note no. 393
23.07.2007
NEPAL: Who Needs Constitutional Assembly Elections?- Update No. 130
By Dr. S. Chandrasekharan.
It looks that the only institution that is keen to have the CA elections on the stipulated date- November 22 of this year is the Election Commission. The Chief Election Commissioner has repeated once again on 10th July that the security situation has to improve for holding elections in November. He pointed out that while the job of the government is to restore Law and Order, the task of the political parties is to evoke a desired political atmosphere.
While the government of which the Maoists are also a part has failed to maintain law and order particularly in the Terai, the political parties instead of creating a right atmosphere for holding a free and fair elections are diverting everyones attention by demanding that Nepal be declared a republic even before the CA elections are held.
The Prime Minister Leads:
Leading the pack is the Prime Minister himself, who is making indirect suggestions that the King should abdicate making it easy for him to decide on the monarchy while his own deputy Ramchandra Paudel has declared that the majority in the party are for a republic and the party would be moving necessary resolutions within the party even before the CA elections! It is also noticed that G.P. on his own is also toying with the idea of converting the present interim parliament as a constitutional assembly by offering a few seats to the disgruntled elements like the MJF and the Janajathis and avoid the embarrassment of going through the election for which the party cadres are not ready.
UMLs Position:
Madhav Nepal of UML said on 10th of July that it would be better if the King steps down from the throne and open the door for making a republican state before the elections to the State are held. It is not clear why the UML is in a hurry. In the minutes of the decisions of the meeting of the high level leaders of the seven political parties and the communist party of Nepal ( Maoist) November 8, 2006, Madhav Nepal representing the UML gave a dissenting note and we quote- The CPN (UML) has a dissenting opinion that the issue of whether to maintain the monarchy or not should be determined through the referendum along with the elections of the Constitutional Assembly. One may argue that Madhav Nepal has never been consistent and so why bother? But the party has signed a serious memorandum for a referendum to decide on the monarchy and should explain to its people and its constituents as to why it has changed its view?
Maoist Approach:
In their overall approach to keep the government under pressure and not let them settle down, the Maoists have been most vocal in getting the interim parliament to declare the country a republic. It was on the insistence of the Maoists that the minutes of the high level leaders of the seven parties and the Maoists that a clause was added in III-2.d that said Matters whether institution of monarchy shall be continued or not, shall be decided by the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly by a simple majority vote. But they seem to be in a hurry. Are they afraid of the elections not going in their way? Are they afraid of the monarchists disturbing the elections?
The Maoists have been flouting every item of the peace accord they solemnly signed. They have not disbanded their administration in the remote areas. They have not returned the seized properties. On the other hand they are seizing more properties. The YCL continues with its rampage and their latest was the sacking of the offices of the RPP and RJP in Dhankuta for the crime of their leaders taking part in the Kings birthday celebrations! The property of Surya Bahadur Thapa, the former prime minister has also been seized for the same reason! YCLs extortion from the hapless people from all walks of life continues. No one wants to admit it but they are all afraid.
We notice a contradiction in the current situation in Nepal. The Maoists are part of the present government and they cannot be in the government and at the same time work against the government! We are presented with a strange spectacle of senior cabinet ministers complaining against another party which is also a part of the government. Ramachandra Paudel, deputy to the Prime Minister made three serious charges against the Maoists- 1. The unruly behaviour of the Maoists is posing a hurdle to the polls. 2. Maoists are hindering UN verification of PLA and also not returning the land they had seized during the insurgency 3. Maoists are acting as self appointed Police and making ti difficult to create a conducive environment for the polls.
It is on the second point that the Maoists will have a lot of explaining to do. In the recent verification of Ilam Cantonment it was found that 1300 out of 3200 were found to be not fit to be there according to the standards laid down by the UN. The understanding was that those found to be ineligible should be discharged immediately. The Maoists have not only not discharged them but have since refused further verification. It is now learnt that the Maoists have agreed in principle to continue the verification but no date has been fixed despite a personal meeting between Prachanda and Ian Martin of UN. It is not clear why the Maoists would have retained such large number of minors and those ineligible, to be part of the PLA in the cantonments in the first instance. The reason could be that the comprehensive peace accord (6.4) states that those PLA combatants in the cantonments will not be allowed to publicise for or against any party and to go for or against any side in the run up to the CA elections. They may therefore have retained the more senior and tested cadres for canvassing in the run up to the elections rather than bottling them up in the camps!
It is said that the hard line attitude of the Maoists may change once their plenum scheduled in coming August is over. August is not far off and we will see whether there will be any improvement. At any rate unless the verification is completed before November 22, CA elections cannot be held. The Maoists will be in no hurry once the country is declared a republic! See the latest statement of Badal on the 18th that says unless monarchy is abolished and the parliament declares the nation to be a republic, the formation of a constituent assembly does not seem likely
Interim Parliament:
The present interim parliament, no matter whether it includes more members or not cannot be considered to be representative. It is not an all inclusive body and has not stood the test of an election to make it credible or legitimate to take such far reaching decisions like declaring the country a republic. After al,l the CA elections are not far away and as said by the Chief Election commissioner, besides the government maintaining law and order it is incumbent on the political parties to create a proper political atmosphere. Both are failing and to declare Nepal a republic without waiting for the November 22 elections or making it possible to conduct the elections, declaration of Nepal as a republic will not be internationally acceptable.
This is not to say that we are for monarchy, but there should be a method in madness when one wants to do something that should be legal, credible and acceptable to one and all.
Home | Papers | Notes | Forum | Search | Feedback | Links
Copyright South Asia Analysis Group
All rights reserved. Permission is given to refer this on-line document for use in research papers and articles, provided the source and the author's name are acknowledged. Copies may not be duplicated for commercial purposes.