Lack of procedural clarity about how the prime minister’s election process should unfold may lead to differing interpretations from various political parties and this may complicate the process. [break]
The first phase of parliament’s business, however, looks pretty straightforward. On January 9 the speaker will only read out the letter received from the president summoning the session. The speaker may then schedule the next meeting after a gap of two to three days as practiced in the past. Once the session resumes, voting on Nepali Congress (NC) leader Ram Chandra Paudel´s candidacy for prime minister will be conducted.
The result of the election is a foregone conclusion: The majority of lawmakers will vote against him as the largest party UCPN (Maoist) and third-largest CPN-UML, who jointly command a majority in the House, have officially decided to vote against.
The NC leader may withdraw his candidacy before or after the election. The complication starts once he withdraws his candidacy: How to restart the election process again once all the candidates have withdrawn from the race?
There are two schools of thought. The first says, the new process should start as per Article 38 (1) of the Interim Constitution while the second school says the process can be started as per Article 38 (2).
Under Article 38 (1), the prime minister should be elected on the basis of political understanding. Failing to form the government by consensus, the parties shall go for Article 38 (2) that recommends the parties to elect a prime minister by a House majority.
Some argue that the president should restart the process, while others argue that since the president has already written to parliament, there is no need to go back to him again.
Even if the parties agree on requesting the president to start the process afresh, there is no clarity about who should send the request – the speaker, political parties, or somebody else.
Officials at the parliament secretariat are of the view that these things need to be resolved through political understanding as the Parliamentary Regulations have not envisioned such complications.
If the parties agree on resuming the process in accordance with Article 38 (2), the speaker, upon consultation with the political parties, will announce the date for the election. Accordingly, the secretariat will set the deadline for filing and withdrawal of candidacies and publish the final list of candidates. All this could take more than a week.
In case of the parties´ decision to reintroduce the process in accordance with 38 (1), it could take at least two weeks after the process begins.
"The process has already been derailed from the usual procedure envisioned by the Parliamentary Regulations and parliamentary practice applied in the past. Therefore, agreements at the political level will be needed," Tek Prasad Dhungana, legal advisor to the parliament secretariat, told Republica.
He said the leaders must reach an understanding on setting out an appropriate process and implement it sincerely. "Otherwise, the country may again face more complications in the days to come and that will eventually cause waste of more time," he said.
Govt likely to remain until UNMIN exit
As the prime ministerial election process is not clear and could take weeks, the caretaker government is expected to be in place until the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) exits.
As per the latest decision of the government of Nepal and the UN Security Council, UNMIN is scheduled to exit Nepal on January 15.
The prime minister´s decision to recommend to the president to summon the session on January 19, according to a reliable source, was a strategic move to bid the UN body adieu as planned and before the formation of a new government.
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