Though the government has already approved the ordinance on amending election related acts and ordinance on amending Election Commission Act, 2013, it has yet to approve the ordinance on amending the Election to Members of the Constituent Assembly Act, 2013 as the major four political forces -- UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress (NC), CPN-UML and United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) -- remain sharply divided over the proposed eligibility threshold for CA seat allocations under proportional representation, downsizing the CA to 491 members from the previous 601 members, and candidates´ criminal background. [break]
UCPN (Maoist) and UDMF, among other fringe political parties have stood against the new proposal while NC and CPN-UML have been sticking to the proposed provisions related to the new CA.
"We had not imagined that the political parties would backtrack [from the earlier understanding]," Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety told Republica, adding, "It is an obvious reason to be unhappy."
He maintained that the constitutional body had finalized the ordinance only after consulting the political parties. "All major political parties had agreed on the issue," Uprety added.
The chief election commissioner stated that they have proposed the eligibility threshold for CA seat allocations under proportional representation with the ´good intention´ of encouraging light minded parties to come together.
The head of the EC made such statement on the same day when a meeting of the High Level Political Committee (HLPC) formed an eight member taskforce to forge consensus on disputed issues of the election related ordinance.
Though, the EC had earlier proposed that a political party must secure 1.5 percent of total valid votes cast in the elections in order to claim seat allocations under proportional representation, the constitutional body reduced it to one percent following objection by fringe parties.
UCPN (Maoist) and UDMF, and several fringe political parties have been stating that upcoming CA elections should be conducted in line with existing election-related provisions. Also, fringe political parties have been objecting to the provision requiring 10,000 voter signatures for registering a new party.
139 parties apply to register
REPUBLICA
KATHMANDU, May 30
As of the one month deadline that expired on Thursday, altogether 139 political parties filed application for registration at the Election Commission (EC) in view of upcoming Constituent Assembly (CA) elections.
Out of the 139 parties, 110 are new while the remaining 29 political parties had their representatives in the former CA.
According to Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety, altogether 75 political parties had registered for the 2008 CA elections. Altogether 54 parties had contested the polls while 25 were elected.
Asked if the constitutional body could give another chance to some disgruntled parties for filing applications, Uprety said, "The EC has yet to take a decision regarding the issue."
The EC started registering political parties from April 30 in view of the fresh CA polls. As per the existing provision, the EC can give political parties a maximum of one month to register for elections.
As pet the existing provisions, political parties must submit their respective manifestoes, statutes, regulations, flags and election symbols, among other things, while the new political parties must also submit the signatures of 10,000 voters in order to be registered at the EC.
Also, political parties represented in the former CA should submit a letter from the parliament secretariat as evidence of their representation.
Uprety said that the EC has already started the process of verifying the documents submitted by the political parties.
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