Still some hope

Consensual constitution

It is good to see the ruling and opposition parties back at the negotiating table after a month-and-a-half hiatus. As far as possible, the new constitution must be promulgated on the basis of broad consensus. Such consensus will add to the legitimacy of the new document. Both the sides have said they are ready to be ‘extremely flexible’. But if the past is any guide, such verbal reassurance means absolutely nothing. Without common understanding on federalism, broad consensus still appears a distant prospect. But there have been some positive signs from opposition of late.

On Friday, UCPN (Maoist) standing committee member Agni Sapkota, who is thought to be close to party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, said that the fate of the disputed five districts—Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari in the east and Kailali and Kanchanpur in the west—could be decided based on local people’s feedback. He seemed to be hinting at some kind of referendum. If so, it’s a reasonable proposal. Rather than impose ready-made solutions from the center, and thereby risk backlash from disgruntled local forces, why not follow the democratic process of letting the concerned people decide what kind of administrative and political boundaries they want?

Such an agreement on federalism will also pave the way for agreements on other three contentious issues—government form, electoral system and judiciary. If the ruling Nepali Congress and CPN-UML are ready to be flexible on federalism, the opposition has said, it is also ready to concede ground on other three issues.

But the devil is once again in the detail. Letting the people of the five disputed districts decide their own fate is not a unanimous opposition proposal; nor is it a popular option even within the ruling alliance. But time has come to make some hard choices. Anyone who opposes this option must be able to come up with a better one. One way or the other, the constitutional process must be settled once and for all—and soon. Our fear is that if the process continues to drag on, arriving at negotiated settlements will get harder with each passing day. The hard lesson of the last five years of constitutional process is that with the passage of time the number of stakeholders in the process also increases. Nepal’s is a case of too many overzealous cooks spoiling the constitution broth.

It is for this reason we would like to see the constitution settled at the earliest. CA Chairman Subhash Chandra Nembang has proposed a final constitution by upcoming Republic Day (May 29), around two-and-a-half months from now. He says it is possible to have a constitution by May 29 by following due process in the CA. It would be wonderful if the political parties heeded Nembang and arrived at some kind of compromise in the next few days. That would be the best case scenario. But if such compromise is not possible even by the end of this week, the suspended voting process in the CA must resume. The constitutional process cannot be held hostage indefinitely. But before we get to that point of no return, we would once again like to urge both the sides to negotiate in a spirit of compromise and do their best to keep the flame of consensual politics that has been the hallmark of the transitional Nepali polity.