NC President Koirala argued that the latest position of the UCPN (Maoist) against eligibility threshold for seats under proportional electoral system and 601-member Constituent Assembly (CA) was a deliberate move of the Maoists to defer the election scheduled for December. [break]
Earlier, four major political forces -- UCPN (Maoist), NC, CPN-UML and United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) agreed to reduce the size of CA to 491 members and keep at least 1 percent votes as eligibility threshold for seats under proportional electoral system. "The Maoists are backtracking on the agreements reached earlier on election related laws. This shows who wants to defer the election," Koirala said.
Election Commission (EC) had originally proposed keeping 1.5 percent votes as election eligibility threshold under the proportional electoral system. But the parties, according to Koirala, had made an agreement to keep 1 percent threshold.
Speaking to a group of journalists at a function organized by Reporters´ Club Nepal to present him a memorandum for an early election, Koirala also said that NC is firm on its stance that there should be an eligibility threshold and that the size of CA should be smaller than the former one. He added that all the four political forces in the 25-point ordinance promulgated by the president to resolve constitutional difficulties and a separate 11-point political agreement had reached to an agreement to this effect.
Koirala said he had suggested to UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal that they should all convince the fringe parties that have been demanding a 601-member CA and opposing election eligibility threshold. "But he has stood for backtracking on the agreement reached in the past saying it is not possible to convince the fringe parties. He instead appears to be inciting the fringe parties," Koirala complained.
Koirala also argued that election eligibility is good for ensuring representation of marginalized and backward people as this would force various fringe parties to unite together for election. He added that only bigger parties could ensure representation of all groups of marginalized and backward people.
Koirala said that the Maoist move to backtrack from the previous agreements on election related issues had caused delays in finalizing the election-related laws and announcing fresh date for the CA election.
On the occasion, Koirala also argued that Chairman of Interim Election Council Khil Raj Regmi should be prepared to tender his resignation from the post of chief justice if that helps bring the agitating political parties on board the election process. "We also made sacrifice for the election. Regmi should also be ready to make sacrifice for the cause of election," he said while adding that since the election is the heart of democracy there should not be any further delay in holding the polls. "This could be a middle path solution."
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