The Constitutional Committee had to vote on as many as 98 provisions to be enshrined in the new constitution due to irreconcilable differences among the political parties. This, despite representation of heads of all the major political parties in the thematic committees.
The chiefs of UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress and CPN-UML -- Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Girija Prasad Koirala and Jhala Nath Khanal -- agreed to abstain from voting though.
So far, the CA has made eighth amendment in its calendar of events while only eight of the 11 thematic committees have prepared their preliminary draft reports and concept papers and concluded deliberations on the papers. After resolving disputes on all the remaining provisions through votes, the CC is about to prepare its preliminary draft report.
The committee on system of governance (CSG) has failed to make any headway for the last couple of weeks. On Sunday, a meeting of nine-member taskforce formed to resolve the dispute failed to yield results.
The taskforce was formed to resolve differences over the system of governance and electoral systems to be adopted in the new constitution. A heated debate had ensued after none of the party received majority votes in favor of the model backed by them.
Failing to take a decision, the taskforce has decided to hold another round of meeting with CA Chairman Subas Nembang on the issue on Monday.
Apart from the CC and CSG, the committee on judicial system, and the committee on natural resources, financial rights and public revenue sharing, among others, had to vote on several provisions.
The experience learnt so far in the eleven thematic committees in the CA has clearly shown that forging consensus in the CA is likely to be a tough task. “If the experience we learnt in the thematic committees is anything to go by, endorsing the provisions by two third majority of 601-member CA is going to be a daunting task,” a thematic committee secretary told myrepublica.com preferring anonymity.
The official said the committees have failed to resolve the issues even by garnering simple majority on the provisions while the provisions need to be decided by two-thirds of majority of the CA while preparing the final draft.
“The political parties, leaders and the CA members are the same. If they are so rigid on their stances in the thematic committees, one can´t expect that they will exercise flexibility in the CA during the final stage of the constitution writing process,” the official said.
A majority of the 11 thematic committees have opted voting to decide on several crucial provisions. “It all shows that the parties must not forget the spirit of the interim constitution that writing the new constitution is not possible without consensus and the parties should win the support not only of the political parties but also of the general people so as to ensure that the constitution will be owned by everyone,” said Constitutional Lawyer Bhimarjun Acharya.
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