Finding light

The eight-party alliance (EPA) on Thursday set Mangsir (mid-Nov-mid-Dec) of this year as the new time for the constituent assembly (CA) elections. By and large, the stand taken by the Nepali Congress headed by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala prevailed. However, five parties wrote a note of dissent — the CPN-UML, the CPN-Maoist, the Janamorcha Nepal, the Nepal Sadbhawana Party (Anandidevi), and the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party. The notes of the CPN-UML and the NSP (A) supported a fully proportional representational electoral system. The Janamorcha Nepal and the CPN-M also endorsed full proportionality in their notes, but also stressed the need for a pre-CA declaration of a republic. It also decided to have the constituency delimitation commission review its report with respect to districts that were redrawn in a “technically” faulty way. Nearly one and a half months had elapsed since the Election Commission (EC) had made clear that the polls were not possible in June as stipulated in the interim constitution (IC). After that, the relationship of the NC with major leftist parties, particularly the CPN-M and the CPN-UML, had lost some of its glare, the latter insisting the responsibility for the failure should be determined first. The Maoists have even registered a republic-first motion in the parliament.

It is up to the eight parties whether to wait till the CA polls to decide the future of the monarchy or do it right now. At least, they agreed some time back to incorporate a feature in the second amendment to the IC providing for the abolition of the monarchy by the parliament if the King was deemed to “conspire” against the CA polls. If the polls can be heldin Mangsir, a six months’ time difference would indeed be trivial, making the dispute over the monarchy’s future now or then inconsequential. But the question is: Who can guarantee that the polls will not be postponed again? And who will be held responsible if the new date cannot be kept? Indeed, the politicians had talked of holding the CA polls last Mangsir, then it was extended to June 20, then again pushed back by seven days, soon to be followed by the announcement that the polls on the stipulated date were simply not possible.

One need not be a pessimist. But it is always better to use experience as a guide in politics. The issue of the CA polls has been hanging fire in the country for the past 57 years, with certain forces for status quo or regression always arrayed against the CA idea. Some of the EPA partners are late converts to the CA. Doubts and uncertainties, therefore, persist. However, to speed up things, the EPA also stressed the need to address the demands of the various disgruntled groups through talks and also to pass the several CA-related bills pending in Parliament. The tardiness of the governing alliance in taking important decisions is worrying. If again they remain slow, the Mangsir deadline may not be met. In such a situation, the nation would face a serious crisis of confidence that may threaten the very existence of the alliance. It may also plunge the nation into the unknown.

Source: The Himalayan Times, June 1, 2007