When the international community and close neighbors of Nepal are pushing for the November 19 polls, with or without agitating 33-party alliance led by CPN-Maoist, the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, has underscored the importance of bringing dissenting political parties on board the election process.
During his meeting with visiting Chairman of Interim Election Council Khil Raj Regmi at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Saturday, the Secretary General suggested the former to accommodate the dissenting parties in the election.[break]
It is not surprising for the UN SG to push for the participation of the dissenting parties, mainly Mohan Baidya-led CPN-M, in the election as the UN has been closely associated with the peace process in Nepal. Though CPN-M split from UCPN (Maoist) after the unceremonious dissolution of the Constituent Assembly (CA), the people involved in the party are the ones who had actively participated in the peace process.
Even as the integration (or rather induction) of former Maoist combatants into the Nepal Army has now been completed, the overall peace process would come to an end only after the promulgation of the new constitution.
The UN assisted and monitored the last election of the CA in April 2008 and played a vital role as a facilitator in the overall integration process–from setting up the camps, monitoring the cantonments and verifying the combatants as per the criteria set by political parties here.
Though the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) left after four years, the UN Headquarters still receives updates on political developments here through a small political office at the UN House. The head of the UN Department of Political Affairs, UN Under Secretary General Jeffry Feltman had visited Nepal in March to reiterate the UN position that all parties and sections of the society need to be involved in the fresh electoral process to hold the election in a free and fair manner.
We would like to reiterate our position that the agitating parties need to be brought into the electoral process to make it a legitimate affair. There could be doubts that the CPN-M’s intention could be to derail the current electoral process, but it is up to the major political parties to convince them that the election is the only medium to bring the country back on track that diverted after the dissolution of the CA. The present non-political government cannot go on for too long.
This is the time for the parties and those in the present government to do some soul-searching. If Chairman Regmi’s resignation from the Chief Justice position would pave the way for the better understanding between the parties and encourage CPN-M to participate in the polls, he should not hesitate to do so for the larger interest of the nation. And if the parties need to postpone the November 19 date for few weeks to give time for the CPN-M to come on board, they should not hesitate either.
But for both these things to happen, the CPN-M needs to come out in public and accept the fact that seeking a fresh mandate is the only way out to end the current impasse. If the CPN-M leaders think that they could derail the current electoral process through intimidation, they are completely wrong, as the people no longer want violence. Instead, the people want to exercise their rights to choose the right candidates so as to guarantee the promulgation of the new constitution that would not only consolidate the outcome of the popular movements, but would also help bail the country out of the current quagmire.
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