Defeat stalks Maoist proposal

KATHMANDU, Dec 19: The special session of parliament summoned by the president as per a petition by lawmakers from the UCPN (Maoist) and smaller parties is beginning Sunday.



The Maoists have registered a proposal in parliament demanding a fresh start to the prime ministerial election.



As leaders from all the ruling parties have announced that they will stand against the Maoist proposal, it is likely the proposal will be defeated.[break]



Leaders from the Nepali Congress (NC), CPN-UML and other ruling parties, who jointly command a majority in parliament, have teamed up against the Maoist move.



Lawmakers from CPN (Ekikrit), CPN-ML (Socialist), Nepali Janta Dal, Nepaa Rastriya Party, Rastriya Janamukti Party and Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Anandidevi) support the Maoist proposal. While the Maoist party has 237 seats in the 601-member parliament, the six small parties have in total 13 lawmakers.



A parliamentary party meeting of the NC on Sunday decided to foil the Maoist proposal in the special session of the House.



NC parliamentary party leader Ram Chandra Paudel said the meeting decided to vote against all proposals that the Maoists bring in the special session. The NC also decided to ask other political parties in parliament to vote against the Maoist proposals. The NC had earlier issued a whip to its lawmakers to vote against the Maoist proposals.



A central committee meeting of the CPN-UML on Thursday took the same decision.




The prime minister held a meeting with coalition partners at his official residence at Baluwatar Saturday evening, seeking their support to foil the special session summoned at the initiative of the main opposition Maoist party.



"Representatives from parties that support the present ruling coalition were present at the meeting. They agreed to foil the Maoist move," Chandra Dev Joshi of CPN (Samyukta) told Republica. According to him, leaders from parties other than the Maoists, Madhesi People´s Rights Forum and the six smaller parties that have supported the Maoists, were present at the meeting.



The Maoist party, however, has decided to go ahead with its proposals. A meeting of the party´s parliamentary party held at Singha Durbar Saturday took a decision to this effect.



After the parliamentary party meeting, Dev Gurung told reporters that his party would ask other parties to vote for their proposals. The Maoist party issued a whip to its lawmakers to vote in favor of the proposals.



Sources at the parliament secretariat said that party leaders will address the House at the meeting on Sunday. "There is no possibility of tabling their proposal for a decision on Sunday because leaders from almost all parties will be eager to address the House," the source said.



According to officials at the secretariat, the speaker may schedule another meeting of parliament for a decision, a couple of days later. "In our parliamentary practice, we find that such proposals have been tabled for decision after allowing a few days for discussions. There are precedents of a time-frame of up to six days being given for such purposes," an official said.



The Maoists have demanded a fresh start for the prime ministerial election, arguing that the candidacy of NC leader Paudel, the lone candidate in the votings, is no longer effective following the end of the House session. The government had abruptly prorogued the budget session on November 19 after a scuffle in parliament. Earlier, parliament had failed to elect a new prime minister even after conducting 16 rounds of voting as no candidate secured a majority.



After taking a decision on the tabled proposal, the special session will be prorogued by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister. Though the special session was summoned directly by the head of state upon a petition by one-fourth of the total number of lawmakers, parliamentary practice for ending the session is similar to that for proroguing a regular session.

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