The understanding was reached Sunday at a meeting of the eight-member taskforce that is entrusted with the responsibility of offering suggestions to the High Level Political Committee (HLPC). [break]
"As per today´s agreement the proposal to downsize the CA will be retained because we at today´s [Sunday] meeting have reached an understanding to find solutions without making any changes to the 11-point political agreement and the 25-point understanding [both deals reached on March 13] on removing constitutional difficulties," taskforce member Agni Kharel of CPN-UML told Republica.
The 11-point political deal reached among the major four political forces -- UCPN (Maoist), NC, CPN-UML and UDMF -- proposed to downsize the CA to 491 members. As per the agreement, 240 members will be elected directly from electoral constituencies, other 240 will be nominated under the proportional representation system and the remaining 11 members will be appointed by the government.
UCPN (Maoist), UDMF and some other fringe parties are against the downsize proposal while the NC, CPN-UML and some other parties are in favor. The UCPN (Maoist) and Madhes-based parties, among others, have also opposed the proposed ratio of seat allocations, which is almost in 50 percent ratio. They insist on retaining the provision practiced in the CA election in 2008, when around 56 percent (335) of total (601) seats were allocated under the proportional representation quota.
"We at today´s meeting reached an agreement in principle to find solution from within the 11-point political agreement and 25-point document but we didn´t discuss the details because we can´t finalize them without consent from other political parties as well," said Khimlal Devkota of UCPN (Maoist).
The constituent parties of the HLPC, which offers suggestions to the government on major political issues, are sharply divided into two sides -- UCPN (Maoist) and UDMF being against the proposed criteria while NC and UML lobbying for the new criteria.
As they agree on finding solution from within the ambit of the two documents, the two sides have their own interests behind accepting it.
Finding solution based on the two documents is acceptable for the NC and UML when it comes to retaining the proposal to downsize the CA because the proposal has clearly stated that the new CA will have 491 members.
The Maoists and Madhes-based parties want to seek solution on the basis of the two documents because they want to block some new provisions proposed by the Election Commission (EC). As per the proposed provision, a candidate, who is a convicted criminal, can file his/her candidacy only six years after completing his/her prison term. Similarly, as per the new provision, a political party must secure at least one percent of the total valid votes cast in the election to be eligible to secure seat allocations under proportional representation. These provisions are not mentioned in the 11-point and 25-point documents. While UCPN (Maoist), Madhes-based parties and some fringe parties are against the new provision, the NC and CPN-UML are in favor.
"We reached an understanding to seek solutions from within the ambit of 11-point and 25-point documents. As per this understanding new provisions shall not be added as that would only complicate the election process further," Devkota told Republica.
The taskforce members will present their findings at the HLPC meeting scheduled for Monday.
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