The main opposition party, Nepali Congress, and other small parties have instead advised the government to make preparations for fresh local elections in early 2012. They also asked the government to make provision in the new budget for adequate budget for holding local elections. [break]
The parties expressed their objection at an all-party meeting called by Minister for Local Development Urmila Aryal in Lalitpur on Monday. Though all the 30 parties in the parliament were invited to the meeting, many small parties boycotted the meeting while others left the meeting halfway, registering their strong resentment against the proposed plan of forming PRC.
Minister Aryal on Thursday had announced a plan of forming PRC at the local-level to check corruption rampant in the local-level government bodies. The PRC comprising representatives from various political parties would also facilitate development activities.
Local bodies are without elected representatives for the past nine years as no local elections have been held since July 2002.
Main opposition party NC argued that it would not be a good idea to form people´s representative councils by a central decision, flouting the very concept of decentralization. "We have advised the government not to go for the councils. The best option to fill the vacuum at local-level would be to hold fresh election," said NC leader N P Saud, who participated in the all-party meeting.
Small parties in the parliament have alleged that PRC was an attempt to bypass them in the local-level matters. They alleged that PRC has a provision to include one representative each from the parties securing a minimum three percent votes in the Constituent Assembly (CA) election.
Talking to Republica, Chairman of CPN-ML C P Mainali said they advised the government to continue with the existing all-party mechanism formed at the local-level till a fresh election is held. "If there is a problem of corruption and misappropriation, the government can allocate budget to set up strong monitoring mechanism," said Mainali.
Mainali argued the existing all-party mechanism should ensure representation of all parties that took part in Janaandolan II, contested the CA election, and the parties that have influential role at the local-level.
Chairman of CPN (Samyukta) Chandra Dev Joshi alleged that PRC was aimed at curbing the role of small parties. "This will but give continuity to the corruption in different ways at the local-level," he said. "We have protested the government´s plan."
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