UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said at a meeting of the Federal Democratic Republican Alliance (FDRA), a coalition of various political parties, on Wednesday that the provision would only complicate the election process, create anti-election environment and eventually foil the election process.[break]
Dahal said his party was against the proposed threshold for seats under proportional representation. “This is completely an anti-election provision. We are against further complicating the election process by adding new provisions because it will eventually defer the polls,” Chairman of Democratic Socialist Party Prem Bahadur Singh, who is also the spokesperson for the alliance, quoted Dahal as saying at the meeting.
According to him, Dahal is for ensuring representation of more political stakeholders in the CA so that various social groups may have a say in the constitution writing process.
Also, UCPN (Maoist) Spokesperson Agni Prasad Sapkota confirmed that his party is against the proposed threshold. “We are against the threshold criteria because we believe that a better constitution can be written if we can ensure representation of diverse opinions in the CA,” Sapkota told Republica.
The Election Commission earlier on Monday had forwarded a draft ordinance to this effect to the government. Though the commission, in the draft ordinance, had proposed 1.5 percent votes as threshold for proportional seats, it reduced the threshold to one percent as leaders from several fringe political parties strongly protested the arrangement.
The draft ordinance will come into effect as an election law after the president´s endorsement.
Meanwhile, leaders from several fringe political parties submitted a memorandum to Chairman of the election government Khil Raj Regmi protesting the proposed threshold provision. Singh said Regmi assured of holding further discussions with the dissident political parties before forwarding the proposal to the president.
“I am not in favor of further complicating the election process because my only focus is to conduct the polls soon,” Singh quoted Regmi as saying at the meeting with the fringe parties.
Regmi has called a meeting with leaders from 33 political parties represented in the dissolved CA for Thursday.
Fix poll date without delay: Dahal to govt
Meanwhile, UCPN (Maoist) Chairman on Wednesday has expressed dissatisfaction with the government for the delay in fixing the date for election. He also urged the government to announce election date at the earliest.
“Chairman Prachanda [Dahal] urged the government to announce election date without any delay,” said Maoist Spokesperson Agni Sapkota, saying announcement of a date would create an environment for election.
Talking with Dahal, Chairman of the Interim Election Council of Ministers Regmi has informed that the government continues to be in touch with the Election Commission.
“The government continues to be in touch with the Election Commission and the government is studying the legal aspects of the election,” said Bimal Gautam, press advisor to Regmi.
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