In a letter sent to the parliament secretariat on Wednesday evening, the office of the president has asked the House to form a majority government as per the article 38(2) of the interim constitution as the parties failed to form a consensus-based government within the stipulated time.[break]
On August 15, the president had set a weeklong deadline for the formation of a consensus-based government, and extended the deadline by three more days following requests from the political parties.
The legislature-parliament is scheduled to hold a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) at 8.30 am on Thursday to work out a calendar for prime ministerial elections.
Speaker Subas Nembang would then notify the parliamentarians about the election calendar at a full House meeting at 11.30 am on Thursday and pick an election commissioner.
According to sources, the House is likely to fix Friday as the day for registration of the prime ministerial candidacies.
“We are not sure if the House would move ahead with the election process on Saturday. The Business Advisory Committee meeting on Thursday would take a decision to this effect,” said a parliament secretariat official. He, however, said that the three rounds of voting are likely to be held on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
As per the recently amended election procedure, parliament should hold three rounds of voting. If no candidate gets a majority vote in the first round, only the two top contenders would vie for the post in the second round of voting. If none of the two candidates get a majority even in the third round, parliament would begin the process anew.
Responding to the current situation, Speaker Nembang said though the process of forming a majority-based government has begun, the parties can still opt for the formation of a consensus-based government.
“It is sad and unfortunate that the country has not been able to form a consensus government. But it would still be appropriate to form a consensus government,” Nembang said.
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