In the course of the ongoing three-party negotiations, revival of the dissolved Constituent Assembly has emerged as a realistic option to break the current impasse. It is a wrong option. As there is no provision in the interim constitution for the revival of CA, the parties will have to resort to bending legal instruments beyond recognition. Such a move might still be justified if there is a broad political consensus, for constitution-making, at heart, is a politically-driven process. But we see no reason to fall back on this highly unconstitutional option when there are more legitimate means available. Election of new CA would be one such means.
When the parties represented in the CA failed to give the country a new constitution on May 27, the constitution-making body lost any semblance of legitimacy that was left after its multiple contested extensions. It was the collective failure of the political class that led to the CA’s dissolution. It would be unethical of the self-same leaders who failed to carry out their duties in four-long years to root for the revival option now. People are likely to see revival of the jumbo CA as a ploy of the political class to prolong their perks and privileges while the country reels under a crippling transition. Interestingly, those pushing the revival apple cart the hardest are not UCPN (Maoist) or the Madhes-based parties that were originally in favor of one-last extension to complete the remaining task; but rather NC and CPN-UML, both of which stood vehemently against another extension on May 27.
It isn’t hard to see why. NC and UML are highly insecure about their electoral prospects at a time they are being squeezed from both the right and the left. On the right are forces like Kamal Thapa’s RPP that has stood clearly in favor of reestablishment of monarchy and the Hindu state. As the mainstream parties have failed to live up to people’s expectations in the last four years, these rightist forces have been quick to point out the benefits of a stable polity under monarchy and unitary set-up. On the left are UCPN (Maoist) and Madhes-based parties which have already made their intention to push the agenda of federalism with strong ethnic component—through the formation of the Federal Democratic Republican Alliance (FDRA)—as loud and clear.
Be that as it may, it does not befit democratic forces to fear elections, especially at a time when polls could provide the most legitimate (and probably the only) way out of the prolonged crisis. Instead, traditional parliamentary parties like NC and UML should do some serious soul-searching to come up with clear, progressive agenda to mount a credible challenge to new forces in future polls. We believe the best course of action is still election of a new CA with a new mandate. Revival of the old, bloated body which failed to honor people’s aspirations by stepping on flimsy legal grounds simply doesn’t cut it.
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